MediaBuyerPlanner: Michigan has enacted a ban that will halt the growth of billboards sprouting along its highways – except for the 1,000 to 2,000 outstanding permits that currently exist for unbuilt billboards.
The halt on billboard building is the result of legislations signed into law on Thursday by Governor Jennifer Granholm which prohibits permits for new billboards in Michigan and requires owners to care for the 14,000 billboards that currently line the highways, writes the Detroit News.
Granholm is quoted as saying that Michigan is blessed with beautiful scenery, and the legislation will ensure that that beauty is not lost in a “mountain of roadside advertisements.”
Those in favor of the law say that agreement from the outdoor industry to such limits is unprecedented. In return for such agreement, billboard firms get more flexible rules that make it easier for them to keep trees and brush cleared from existing signs.
Companies will current billboard permits – between 1,000 and 2,000 – must act on those permits within a year.
Companies can also trade three existing permits for a single new permit that will allow them to erect a new sign at any location, with no time limit.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan says the law strikes a fair balance, and that the number of new billboards hasn’t changed much in Michigan in the last 8-10 years, anyway.
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