The Denver City Council on Monday unanimously banned new LED billboards in the city.
Denver’s three existing LED billboards will be allowed to continue to operate. Other brightly lit signs, such as those atop some downtown buildings, also will continue because they were allowed under separate zoning codes.
The move to ban new LED billboards, which are electronically operated, drew praise from several residents who said they didn’t want the nuisance of the bright signs disturbing the scenery of the city.
But Mike Freeborg, an assistant division manager with Young Electric Sign Co., said the council went too far and should instead consider regulating the LED billboards.
The LED issue arose after city officials pushed for a tweak to laws regulating the city’s 550 standard billboards, in order to avoid litigation.
The city and billboard firms had clashed over the status of 11 billboards the city contended were out of technical compliance with city laws. The firms threatened litigation and complained that the laws governing the use of billboards was confusing and not clear-cut.
City officials decided to push for amendments to the city laws that would allow those noncomplying billboards to remain, instead of fighting the companies. Since then, two of those billboards have come down because the city widened Federal Boulevard.
About 150 of the city’s billboards are in areas considered nonconforming. A nonconforming status does not automatically mean a billboard must come down. Billboards in nonconforming areas can continue as long as they aren’t modified beyond a change to the advertising face.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
