Modesto may allow digital billboards along Highway 99

Modesto has banned billboards for decades, but that could change.

The city is considering allowing digital billboards along Highway 99. Planning Manager Patrick Kelly said the Planning Commission last week unanimously approved amending Modesto’s municipal code to allow these billboards. Kelly said the City Council could consider allowing digital billboards at one of its February meetings.

A city report states Vintage Faire Mall asked the city last year about allowing a digital billboard at the mall along Highway 99. Annie Amies, the mall’s marketing manager, did not return phone calls or an email seeking comment.

There are 42 billboards in the city that were in place before the city banned them and were allowed to stay, according to the city report. The report states an applicant seeking a digital billboard would have to remove four of the non-digital billboards.

The digital billboards would have to be at least 2,500 feet from one another, and the messages could not be animated or have movement. The messages could rotate every eight seconds.

An applicant for a digital billboard could enter into an operating agreement with the city if the applicant could not meet the provisions of the amendment. But the report says a billboard approved through an operating agreement must “achieve community benefits that are equivalent to those that would occur through strict compliance with the development standards.”

The report states the revenue the city would receive through the operating agreement would be used for such improvements as graffiti removal.

The proposal for the digital billboards says applicants would need a conditional use permit from the city. An applicant would seek the permit first through the Planning Commission and then through the City Council.

This story was originally published January 15, 2017 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Modesto may allow digital billboards along Highway 99."