Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/02/2009

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February 25, 2009 I Volume 3 I No.4 Zoning Bulletin the record before the ZBA contained "sufficient information" for the ZBA to evaluate the application and determine the extent and acceptability of potential adverse impacts. I Regulation of Signs-Billboard company challenges validity of local ordinance prohibiting signs exceeding certain size Zoning hearing board finds the ordinance is invalid as a de facto exclusion of billboards Citation: Township of Exeter v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Exeter Tp'J 962 A.2d 653 (Pa.2009) PENNSYLVANIA (01l22/09)-Land Displays, Inc. ("LDI") was in the business of outdoor advertising. It erected billboards on real estate that it leased. Between 2003 and 2005, LDI submitted applications to the township for permits to erect billboards on several parcels of property located in the commercial or industrial zoning districts of the township. LDI proposed billboards that consisted of either 300 or 672 square feet of signage per side. The township denied LDI permit appli- cations on the basis that the proposed billboards did not comply with the 25-square-foot size restriction set forth in the township's zoning or- dinance (the "Ordinance"). The Ordinance permitted directional or ad- vertising signs in commercial and industrial zoning districts only if the "area of anyone side [did] not exceed twenty-five (25) square feet." . After its permit applications were denied, LDI appealed to the town- ship's zoning hearing board (the "Board"). As part of its appeal, LDI challenged the va.lidity of the Ordinance. It argued that the Ordinance operated as a de facto exclusion of billboards-meaning that although the Ordinance appeared to permit billboards as a use, under the condi- tions of the Ordinance, billboard use could not in fact be accomplished. Accordingly, LDI argued that the Ordinance deprived it of "constitu- tional property rights and interests without due process oHaw." The Board ultimately concluded that the Ordinance was invalid as a de facto exclusion of billboards throughout the township. Considering national advertising industry standards which set billboard size at ei- ther 300 or 672 square feet, the Board ordered billboards with a maxi- mum surface area of 300 square feet be permitted in the township. The township appealed, and the trial court affirmed the Board's conclusion. The township again appealed, and the Commonwealth Court re- versed the trial court. 4 @ 2009 Thomson Reuters ." 94