Zoning board can change mind about billboard, court rules

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A village zoning board has the authority to reconsider a decision it made about a billboard because facts about the billboard’s ownership had been concealed, an appeals court has ruled.

In Tuesday’s decision, the District 3 Court of Appeals ruled that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the village of Howard had the authority based on “long-standing precedent in Wisconsin law” to reverse a decision to approve Baton Rouge, La.-based Next Media Outdoor Inc.’s request to move a billboard that was in the way of a highway project.

The case stems from a billboard near Highways 29 and 41 in Howard that was displaced because of a Wisconsin Department of Transportation highway project.

In 2011, WisDOT began planning changes to the highways. The billboard was in the way of a proposed overpass, and WisDOT required it to be removed. The highway’s redesign would make the overpass rise higher than the billboard, so even if the sign was moved it would not be visible unless it was also raised, according to court documents.

The billboard is owned by Next Media, which sought to move it to a different location on the same property. WisDOT, according to court documents, did not negotiate with Next Media because officials thought the village would not approve adjusting the billboard’s height. But WisDOT did notify Next Media that it was preparing an offer to acquire the rights to the billboard.

Next Media then filed an application with the village of Howard on Oct. 25, 2011, to move the billboard.

James Korotev, the village’s director of code administration, denied the application because, according to court documents, Next Media improperly planned to build a new sign, add digital facing on one side of billboard and increase the sign’s height by 45 feet.

Next Media then appealed to Howard’s Zoning Board of Appeals, which granted Next Media’s request with conditions. The board, according to the Court of Appeals decision, believed that the request to move the billboard had been approved by WisDOT.

However, on July 11, 2012, the village requested the zoning board to reconsider its decision. The village had received an affidavit signed by Korotev that indicated that a WisDOT attorney had sent him an email showing that WisDOT had owned the billboard since Feb. 10, 2012, and paid Next Media $118,000 for it.

A public hearing was held and the board issued a new decision rejecting Next Media’s request on Jan. 29, 2013. Follow @erikastrebel