Cantrell wanted to allow the billboard, but after two of her colleagues said they would vote against her, she changed her mind.
The New Orleans City Council normally goes along with whatever a district member recommends on land-use issues within his or her district. Occasionally, however, for reasons of policy or politics, the other members refuse to follow the district member on an issue. That happened last week to one of the council's two newest members, LaToya Cantrell.
At issue was whether to allow a new billboard at 535 S. Derbigny Street, next to Interstate 10 and midway between Poydras Street and Tulane Avenue. Cantrell wanted to allow the billboard, but after two of her colleagues said they would vote against her, she changed her mind.
Because the city is basically maxed out on the number of billboards allowed under current regulations, most proposals for new signs require waivers from those regulations.
The 60-foot-high, double-faced, illuminated billboard that Lamar Advertising wanted to erect on S. Derbigny would have required several waivers. It would have been only 40 feet from I-10, not the required 200 feet, and less than the required 200 feet from the nearest grade separation.
LaToya Cantrell
It also would have been too close to other billboards. Under the regulations, such signs are supposed to be at least 1,000 feet apart. This one would have been 515 feet from one existing billboard and 905 feet from another.
The City Planning Commission opposes almost all requests for billboard waivers, for reasons of both aesthetics and safety, arguing that too many billboards can be distracting to drivers. It said this one would have added "visual clutter" to a major highway and run counter to efforts the city is making to beautify the corridor. It also noted that officials are looking at the idea of tearing down the elevated I-10 roadway.
In recent years the City Council usually has accepted the commission's recommendations and refused to grant requested waivers. The main exception was when Renee Gill Pratt was the councilwoman for District B, the same district Cantrell now represents. At Gill Pratt's urging, the council approved several billboards in her district over the commission's objections.
Cantrell told the council at its Jan. 24 meeting that she wanted to approve the Derbigny Street billboard with provisos on matters such as landscaping.
However, Councilwoman Susan Guidry said she thought the request was really a citywide issues, not a district issue, and that she would vote against it. She warned that approving the request would lead billboard companies to seek more such waivers and said the council should not "waive the few protections we have."
Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer agreed with her, saying she first wants to see a comprehensive inventory of how many billboards the city already has. Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson also called for a new study of the whole issue, noting that it has been two decades since the council last took a look at billboard policies.
After hearing from her colleagues, Cantrell withdrew her motion to approve the proposed billboard and instead agreed to defer a vote on it past the council's deadline for action, automatically killing it. She also said she would be willing to lead a council study of whether the city's regulations need to be updated.
In December 1992, the council voted to allow new billboards in New Orleans if two existing signs were torn down for each new one erected. The action, which capped a six-year battle over billboards, should lead to a gradual reduction of their number, the council was told.
But industry officials said there were few sites in the city suitable for new signs, especially with the stringent rules on where billboards can go that the council also endorsed. The rules banned billboards in Orleans Parish east of Paris Road, "within 1,000 feet of aesthetically sensitive areas" and closer than 1,000 feet from each other along expressways or interstate highways and 500 feet along streets.
In capping the number of billboards and adopting the trade-off system, the council rejected two far-reaching recommendations of the City Planning Commission and a coalition of civic groups led by the Preservation Resource Center.
Those groups had urged the council to ban new billboards entirely, starting at once, and to tear down many existing ones in a few years. Under their proposed five-year amortization plan, the city could have started tearing down non-conforming billboards after their owners had an additional five years to recover their investment.