Pocatello mayor addresses proposed billboard ban - East Idaho News
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Pocatello mayor addresses proposed billboard ban

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POCATELLO – City leaders in Pocatello are determining whether to permanently ban all billboards within city limits.

The city has placed a moratorium on billboards to give community members a chance to discuss the issue and determine what action to take before moving forward.

“We keep seeing and approving more and more billboard applications. So we thought, because there are so many coming in, we better stop and reevaluate what we are going to accept as a community for having the billboards here,” Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad tells EastIdahoNews.com.

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Mayor Brian Blad | File photo

Blad says this discussion began with an application for an LED billboard. He says there were concerns that a lit billboard would impact a neighborhood.

“We’ve asked (the city council) to work with sign companies and those who own the billboards. We want people to have their voice heard, and we want to know where businesses are coming from as well,” Blad says.

Businesses had a chance to weigh in on the measure at a city council meeting last week.

“The reality is that we have an established business and (Pocatello) is talking about removing that business from us after it was already awarded,” Bill Fuerst, the general manager for Riverbend Communications, told the Idaho State Journal. “We feel like we are in jeopardy because of some rulings that are quickly approaching a definitive position, and it seems as if it was a knee-jerk reaction.”

Blad says city officials have asked for a committee to be formed before the council votes on the measure.

“It’s a hot topic. I could argue both sides of this. I think billboards are an effective way for a business to advertise, but when you drive to Salt Lake City, the freeway is packed full of billboards,” says Mayor Blad.

The moratorium is coming to an end in November. Blad says the city council will have to make a decision in the next 60 days.

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