Some cities allow new billboards to be built, while others don't. And when new billboards are banned in a city you have to make a decision whether to give up or attempt to get a variance. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we're going to explore how to make that decision and how to successfully obtain a variance for new construction
Episode 143: What To Do When New Billboard Construction Is Banned Transcript
The billboard industry has long been built around the concept of being told what you can and cannot do. On the federal level, the Highway Beautification Act by Lady Bird Johnson put in play the concept you can't just put a billboard anywhere you want. And from that issue back in the '60s, every state then adopted their own sign ordinance. And then that became on a more micro level, most every city and town has their own billboard ordinance. And so what happens sometimes when you go out and look at building a billboard and you've got a highway or a major road passing through an area and you think it's perfect for a billboard, you go down to talk to them about it and they say, "Nope, can't have a billboard in our city. No, can't have one in this town." So then what do you do? You could just give up and say, "Okay, well, I guess that I can't build a billboard here. I quit." But another option you have available is to file what's called a variance. Now, what a variance is, is it's a request to the city to give you an exception to the rule of allowing a sign to be built. Now, why would a city even allow a variance? Cities allow you to file for variances on almost everything. If you have a single-family home and you want to build an addition on the home, but it's three feet in encroachment into the setback for the city, they have a tool called a variance. And you can go before the city council and they can vote that yes, you can have this variance or not. It's basically a get-out-of-jail-free card to do what you're trying to do because the city fathers say that, "Oh yeah, it's not really gonna harm anyone that bad," or, "Hell yeah, well, it might be good for the city, so we're gonna let that happen."
Now, in the case of billboards, why would a city want to grant you a variance? Why would they ever think a sign might be a good idea? Well, the key argument to the city is that if you have the billboard, you'll be able to promote businesses in the city, which will get people to exit off the highway or exit off the major road, or just give that business a little extra firepower to get more sold. Maybe it's a restaurant that wants to advertise its new grand opening. Maybe it's a car dealer which has some kind of a special situation deal going on on Ford pickup trucks, whatever the case may be. There are good things that come from billboards. It's been a proven fact. Many, many Americans on the road get most of their information from those big old signs. So that's your key argument, is having a sign in the city is beneficial. But then how do you then get that going? How does that work? Well, the first rule on trying to obtain a variance is you should never apply for the variance unless you know you have enough votes to win. So you're gonna want to find out who makes the decisions in the city. Do we start off with the zoning department or do we go straight to the city hall? And you want to make a list of all the people who will be voting on that, all of your aldermen or city council members, your zoning people. And then behind the scenes, you have their phone number. You can get the phone number, call them up and say, "Hey, I'm Frank with the such-and-such billboard company. And I'm just curious. We would like to build a sign to promote the city, to foster greater advertising marketing. And what would it take to get a variance from you?" And they'll say, "Well, where are you wanting to build this sign?" "Oh, I want to build it on Cumberland Road next to the barbershop." And then hear what they say. They might say, "Well, I might vote for the sign, but it's gotta be small. It can't be one of those huge billboards." "Oh, okay. Well, what do you think about a 12-foot by 24-foot sign?" "Well, can you give me a parallel to that?" "Yeah, that's about the size of that, of that existing Ramada Inn sign down the street." "Oh, yeah, okay. That size would work."
Others may say, "Well, I'd vote for the variance, but I don't wanna be seeing that big old ugly pole." And you can say, "Well, I can mask that pole by putting something over it, like stucco or something." "Oh, okay, that'll work." Or maybe they just want an assurance you're not gonna build it out of old, ugly wooden telephone poles, but in fact, gonna do something with a single-pole nature. Okay, well then that'll work. When you've canvassed everyone and you find that you've got enough of a vote to make it happen, that's when you file for the variance. So the first rule of getting the variance is you need to make sure that you already have the numbers there to win before you even file. Another item is if your property owner, who's a part of that area, he's embedded in the community, he has all the good old boy network ties and you don't because you're a stranger. If you get him actively involved in this, it even goes smoother. He can go to the people on the list and they all know him or her and they may say, "Oh, okay, yeah, for you, my buddy, oh, yeah, sure, I'll vote for it. No problem at all." So eliciting your property owner to help run with the ball is also critical. Another good idea if you're trying to get a variance is not to do it through photography. Renderings work much better.
Now, you can probably find online a way to get a rendering done, but what a rendering does is it does not give photo-realistic look, but more of a sensationalized yet lower-key look. It's what architects love to use are renderings, 'cause renderings always look better than real life. They just do. So the way you present this at the meeting to get the variance is very, very important. If you show them a big old ugly sign, although it's exactly as the sign will look, probably not as good an idea as if you show them this sensationalized and beautiful illustration at a very high level with very few details, not showing all the power lines and the nitty-gritty of real life. If you show it in the form of a rendering, again, it softens it enormously and makes it appear much easier. Also, see if there's anything else you could trade the city as part of this, particularly if a city hates billboards. Sometimes you could build, for example, a sign at the entrance to the city saying, "Welcome to the City of Blank." Or you might be able to put a hang-on sign on your billboard. Now, check your permit to make sure what the impact would be. This would be a panel that hangs beneath your sign that might say, "Welcome to the City of Blank." All those little subtle freebies that don't mean a whole lot, don't cost a whole lot. City councils are just as prone as regular people are to enjoying free stuff. So if you have something you can offer them, then that would be a great idea. The bottom line to it is, though, if someone says, "No, you can't build a billboard in my city," that's not always the end of the movie. There are other options you can do, and getting a variance is typically the starting spot. This is Frank Rolfe, with the Billboard Mastery podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.