Long-Standing Questions Addressed by California Appellate Court

The Outdoor Advertising Act does not preempt cities and counties from regulating billboards in unincorporated areas, a California Appellate Court ruled. In a decision that carries major implications for the billboard industry in California, the Second District Court of Appeal clarified in Arthur D’Egidio v. City of Santa Clarita whether cities and counties are authorized to enact billboard regulations in unincorporated areas that are more stringent than those in the Act.

The Act’s provision at issue, codified as Business and Professions Code section 5270, seemingly provides that it alone is the exclusive source of regulation for billboards in unincorporated areas. This statutory provision, however, has been inconsistently interpreted in the past. In D’Egidio v. City of Santa Clarita, decided Oct. 24, the court put that dispute to rest, holding that the statute allows for the application of city and county regulations to billboards originally placed in unincorporated areas, provided that those regulations are supplementary to the ones in the Act. Moreover, whether the billboard was originally erected in an unincorporated area or not is irrelevant – it is subject to city or county regulation.

Here are the four main takeaways from this case:

• Cities and counties are unquestionably allowed, under the Act, to regulate outdoor advertising displays within their jurisdictions in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.
• City and county regulations may be more restrictive than those found in the Act.
• City and county regulations can apply to billboards that were placed in unincorporated areas at the time of the placement.
• A billboard’s legality may depend on the county regulations at the time of its placement.

Regulations may take the form of zoning ordinances or billboard permits, for example. Cities and counties should take a close look at billboards in their jurisdictions to ensure that they were legally placed at the time.

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