Digital billboards in Corpus Christi similar to what would be seen along the highways in San Antonio. Photo courtesy of Clear Channel Outdoors

City-wide and neighborhood groups alike are coming together to oppose changes to San Antonio’s sign ordinance that would allow some billboards to be “refaced” from traditional vinyl coverings to LED, or light-emitting diode, signs.

Members of San Antonio’s Infrastructure and Growth Committee, comprised of city council members, will vote on Nov. 28 at 1:30 p.m. either to recommend the amended ordinance for San Antonio City Council approval or not.

“If we put enough pressure on city council members,” said San Antonio Conservation Society President Marcie Ince, “they might put a moratorium on billboards and then we can have a discussion. The grassroots organizing has started and we’re working to get everybody on the same page.”

Clear Channel Outdoor, a subsidiary of San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, approached the city one year ago and said that the current city ordinance permits digital billboards. The city disagreed and in June, the city’s Electrical Supervisory Board received an amended ordinance that San Antonio drafted with Clear Channel Outdoor to permit digital billboards, but only if an average of four signs are removed for each digital face.

In the past two monthly meetings, Infrastructure and Growth Committee members tabled action on the amended ordinance. Last month, District 8 Councilwoman Diane Cibrian made a motion to recommend the ordinance to council, but could not get a second to her motion.

Councilwoman Lourdes Galvan said that she wanted more information about the ordinance and was interested in holding a public meeting with Clear Channel Outdoor in her district, but has since apparently changed her mind.

“There’s not going to be a public meeting,” said Galvan’s spokeswoman Emma Hersh. “The city is pushing it to go to infrastructure comittee. Councilwoman Galvan met with Clear Channel last week and most of her questions were answered.”

Councilman Philip Cortez, who also refused to second Cibrian’s motion, also did not hold a public meeting for his constituents on the item. It is unclear whether or not Galvan and Cortez would support moving the ordinance forward on Nov. 28.

After last month’s meeting, Ince applauded Galvan’s bravery in not supporting the ordinance, she said, “in the face of strong opposition.” Last week, Ince’s group posted a white paper on the ordinance on its Web site and Ince said since then, numerous neighborhood organizations and other groups have called her to pledge their support.

“One of our fears is that [in] areas that now don’t allow them [billboards], under the new ordinance, things could change,” Ince said. “Where they [digital billboards] are going to be put up does concern us. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors involved.”

According to Chuck Saxer, president of Northside Neighborhoods for Organized Development, some groups worry that the ordinance could allow for digital billboards to be erected in the city’s urban and scenic corridors, specifically, on U.S. Highway 281.

“There’s a group of about 10 organizations in town [opposing the ordinance],” Saxer said. “Clear Channel told me that they had not begun specific plans on marketing certain areas” Saxer said, adding that now he has heard otherwise.

Ince and others are concerned about the possibility of digital signs along U.S. 281 and other scenic and urban corridors.

Currently, no new billboards may be erected in San Antonio’s urban and scenic corridors, which include parts of U.S. 281. Under the proposed changes, a face may be changed from vinyl to LED only if an equal amount of vinyl sign square footage is removed.

“No new billboards would be allowed to be erected,” said San Antonio Director of Developmental Services Rod Sanchez, “but existing billboards [in the urban and scenic corridors] can be refaced with a digital billboard.”

Outside of the corridors, Sanchez said a new digital billboard may be erected only if two traditional signs are removed, as per the existing ordinance; and an equal amount of square footage in traditional vinyl sign space is removed. “We [San Antonio] really benefit when someone puts in a new one,” he said.

And while highways are currently protected from digital billboards through the Texas Department of Transportation, that could all change, as TxDOT is now looking at changing rules that govern state highways.

“We’re in the midst of a rules process right now and we’re taking testimony and guidance from the public,” said TxDOT Spokesman Chris Lippincott. “After that, the staff will make a recommendation based on the comments they receive to the Texas Transportation Commission, and the commission will vote on those changes.”

TxDOT will hold a public hearing on the rule changes on Nov. 28 in Austin and public comments may be sent to John Campbell, Right of Way Division Director for TxDOT, at 125 E. 11th St., Austin, Texas 78701, through Dec. 6.

The rules would apply to state highways, including Wurzbach Parkway; state highway loops, including Loop 1604 and state highway spurs. TxDOT’s changes would allow for a digital sign to be erected but requires a static message for eight seconds and a two-second window for the sign message to change. Other rule changes are available at: http://www.txdot.gov/publications/general_counsel/p21142.doc.  

But to Ince, even changing the faces means more visual pollution and safety concerns for drivers; she wants a moratorium on all digital billboards through 2009, when more studies are complete.

“If you take away the vinyl and add digital, to us, that’s a new billboard,” Ince said. “But right now, we are on a schedule. They [Clear Channel] are trying to rewrite the rules in a nebulous enough way that keeps them covered, and we have a little, tiny window of opportunity here to say ‘no’ and to not get run over.”