SANATOGA PA – Get ready for a legal rumble in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township over computerized billboards.

Members of the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday (Nov. 18, 2010) to have their solicitor appear next month at the township Zoning Hearing Board and defend against a challenge by a Reading PA company that seeks to overturn Lower Pottsgrove laws limiting electronic advertising.

The red circle on this Google satellite image shows the location off Porter Road where existing billboards would be swapped for newer, digital versions.

The zoning board will serve as the court of first resort in the battle being brought by Lamar Advertising of Penn LLC, 600 E. Neversink Rd., Reading. The outdoor advertising firm has billboards scattered across southeastern Pennsylvania, some of which are akin to super-sized flat-screen digital televisions that can change their messages several times every minute.

Lamar wants to install two digital signs, one each facing east and west, to replace existing billboards that sit atop supports on Porter Road but can be seen from U.S. Route 422. Township Zoning Officer and Director of Codes Keith Place in September denied Lamar’s application to swap the new signs for the old because they would violate township law.

Its hearing to appeal Place’s decision is set for Dec. 14 (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Existing Lower Pottsgrove ordinances restrict the size of such signs and how frequently their messages can be changed. Lamar’s proposed signs are significantly larger than the law allows, and their messages could be set to change thousands of times daily.

The current signs are positioned on the south side of Route 422, across from the office complex on Medical Drive and just east of the rear of the A.D. Moyer Lumber and Hardware lot on Armand Hammer Boulevard. They were erected with zoning board permission in 1999. Their messages change too, but less frequently and not with pixels and light-emitting diodes but by the movement of shutter-like panels, township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway said.

Lamar’s challenge is “certainly a serious matter” because it “attempts to invalidate completely” revisions to the signage law commissioners adopted only three years ago, Holloway told the board during its second of two November meetings. A half-hour before its 7 p.m. start, the board also met in executive session to discuss the litigation, Holloway disclosed.

All five board members were present when the vote was taken. Three days earlier, during its monthly meeting, the township Planning Commission also advised against – but did not officially vote on – Lamar’s plans for the digital signs, according to township Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott.

The zoning board, whose members are appointed by commissioners themselves, is the first stop in the legal battle. “They’ve got a lot of power in these things,” commission President Jonathan Spadt said of zoning board members after the meeting, “and they’re pretty independent.” Either party could later appeal through Montgomery County courts if the zoners’ decision doesn’t go their way.

Related:

• Legal Fight Shapes Up Over Signs In Lower Pottsgrove
• Advertisers Propose Colorful, Electronic Sign In Township

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Nov. 18):

• Legal Fight Shapes Up Over Signs In Lower Pottsgrove
• Township Thanks Dailey For 23 Years Of Volunteer Service
• ‘No Parking’ Zone Approved On North Adams Street

Photo from Google Maps