Billboards on the Bay

We live in a beautiful place and we are reminded of this every time we bike, walk, or drive around Humboldt Bay. Unfortunately, for many years these scenic coastal views have been marred by the presence of unsightly billboards jutting up along the Highway 101 Safety Corridor between Arcata and Eureka.

Humboldt Waterkeeper has been working for years to have these billboards removed - legally and permanently. There have been many unsuccessful attempts in the past to remove these billboards, but in Sept. 2013, the California Coastal Commission responded to our calls to address this blight. Since then, Caltrans has finally revoked permits for most of the billboards along the bay. Since 2012, 16 fewer billboards obstruct our beautiful bay views between Arcata and Eureka, and today only 3 remain. We will continue our efforts until they are all gone for good.

Billboard plea hits a wall: Supervisors deny request for ad to stay on Highway 101

A request to keep a billboard up along U.S. 101 just south of Eureka was denied by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors in a 3-2 vote Tuesday. Supervisors Michelle Bushnell and Rex Bohn dissented.

A special permit from the board given to Allpoints Outdoor Inc. owner Geoff Wills, who leases the billboard to national outdoor advertising company OutFront Media, allowed it to be rebuilt after falling over in a 2019 storm. But the permit required the sign be torn down by September 2025.

Some 50 comments were submitted in support of removing the billboard. Others spoke during public comment, largely calling for the owner to be held to the permit’s 2025 deadline.

Environmental organization Humboldt Waterkeeper, which has been on a 15-year campaign to remove billboards from the wetlands of Humboldt Bay, requested steps be taken to remove the billboard and concrete footings, in addition to restoration of the wetlands.

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson pointed to the regulatory history of billboards, like the National Highway Beautification Act and California’s Outdoor Advertising Act, and spoke in support of the findings of the planning department.

“The billboard is located in a wetland and environmentally sensitive habitat where new billboards are prohibited,” he said.

Fate of Elk River billboard returns to Board of Supervisors

The owner of a billboard along U.S. Highway 101 is seeking to keep the sign in place, despite a permit requiring it be torn down by September 2025. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will hear the request at their Tuesday.

Current regulation prevents new billboards from being constructed on coastal wetlands off U.S. Highway 101. The billboard in question predated these regulations and has been in place since at least 1955, making it legal but nonconforming, according to a staff report.

But this changed after it was blown down in 2019, according to county planning staff.

In 2020, the Supervisors narrowly signed off on a permit for the billboard to be rebuilt after being knocked over, on the condition it would only last five years. It was rebuilt in 2021.

In 2020, environmental advocates at public comment pushed the supervisors to reject the structure’s rebuilding. Billboards are often a hot-button issue at public meetings, with some pushing for the viewshed of Humboldt Bay and the Elk River to be cleared of advertisements.

Jennifer Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Waterkeeper, an organization that’s waged a 15 year campaign to rid Humboldt County’s coastal wetlands of billboards, said, “It is long past time for this billboard to removed, because it was given five years, and it’s expired — get it out of there.”

She said a petition to get the billboard removed in 2020 garnered 328 signatures.

“A lot of people really despise billboards, especially in scenic areas. And, this billboard is in a coastal wetland. It’s along a riparian area. There’s all kinds of reasons why that billboard would never be allowed today,” she said, pointing to coastal regulations, national regulations and local regulations.

Keep Reading

Opposition mounts in Humboldt County over proposed billboard bill

Two governing bodies in Humboldt County are weighing in on a state Assembly bill that would change the permitting process for billboards. They want to keep existing permitting rules in place in times where billboards need to be shored up.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved a letter in opposition to Assembly Bill 770 in a 4-1 vote last week. The Eureka City Council will consider a similar letter next week.

If passed, the bill, sponsored by the California State Outdoor Advertising Association, would add a single sentence to the Business and Professions Code regarding billboard maintenance.

” ‘Customary maintenance’ means an activity performed on a display for the purpose of maintaining the display in its existing physical configuration, including, but not limited to, replacing structural members, such as posts and internal bracing, and using stronger materials, without increasing the number of posts,” the bill’s text read.

Supervisors Approve Letter of Opposition to Bill That Would Redefine ‘Customary Maintenance’ on Billboards

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a letter of “strong opposition” to a new state bill that would would dramatically expand the definition of “customary maintenance” on billboards, allowing sign companies to make substantial changes to those structures without local government review or permitting.

“No other structure of this size in the state of California gets that kind of waiver,” Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The Billboard That Face-Planted Along the Arcata-Eureka Safety Corridor Last Winter Will Not Be Rebuilt

Outdoor advertising giant Outfront Media, Inc., has abandoned its efforts to resurrect a fallen billboard on the Hwy. 101 safety corridor between Arcata and Eureka. The company’s decision means the permanent elimination of a sign that was erected in Humboldt Bay’s tidelands (without a permit) more than 60 years ago.

As previously reported, the company had been seeking permits from various local and state agencies in hopes of rebuilding the billboard, which collapsed into the bay during windstorms this past January. The sign was located directly across from the Indianola cutoff.

Late last month, the Humboldt Bay Harbor District’s Board of Commissioners voted 3-0, with Commissioners Craig Benson and Patrick Higgins absent, to require an environmental study before determining whether the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The rebuild project would also have required a building permit from the county, which owns the property and was in a position to collect rent from the billboard, as well as a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission — neither of which were foregone conclusions.

But unbeknownst to the Harbor District commissioners, by the time they’d made their decision, Outfront Media had already asked Caltrans’ Outdoor Advertising Branch to cancel its permit for the billboard.

Keep Reading

In the News

Page 1 of 11