Billboard Restriction Amendments
February 1, 2021
Well, we’re certainly getting some interesting bills popping out now.
Just appearing:
SB144 – Billboard Restriction Amendments – this like a laundry list of everything the billboard industry has ever wanted to override local regulation. I can’t even summarize them all, here’s just a copy of the description from the bill itself:
11 This bill:
12 ▸ prohibits a municipality or county from taking certain actions to prevent a person
13 from building or maintaining a billboard;
14 ▸ provides that a municipality’s or county’s improper action preventing a billboard
15 owner from building or maintaining a billboard is void;
16 ▸ prevents a governmental entity from prohibiting the remodeling of an outdoor
17 advertising structure;
18 ▸ requires a governmental entity to provide notice of a proposed change in the
19 regulation of billboards;
20 ▸ addresses the information a municipality or county may require of an applicant for a
21 billboard permit;
22 ▸ extends the expiration of certain municipal and county billboard building permits
23 and billboard bank credits;
24 ▸ establishes a cause of action against a governmental entity that violates certain
25 provisions of this bill; and
26 ▸ makes technical and conforming changes.
And then there’s this one: HB281 – County Development Activity Amendments. It’s short, but I can’t really make heads or tails out of what it is attempting to do or why. It even seems to fail to acknowledge the non-mandatory nature of local government general plans in Utah. Someone explain this to us all, please!
Wow, it’s getting crazier now. Who said 2020 was the oddest year ever?
Wilf Sommerkorn
Co-Chair, APA Utah Legislative Committee
