Billboards along highways have been a common sight for decades, alerting drivers to businesses and events.
Those oversized signs have been of the traditional “analog” type for most of their existence.
However, as is the case with many other things, including other signs, the billboard has been going digital in recent years.
Several digital billboards that resemble enormous TV screens have popped up and are proposed in this area, including Attleboro, North Attleboro, Plainville, Norton, Foxboro and Wrentham. They have supporters and opponents.
Residents living near the signs or proposed sites are concerned about light pollution and aesthetics. Public safety advocates worry about them distracting drivers.
On the other hand, the billboards are bringing in much needed revenue to communities and promoting businesses that add to a community’s general economy.
Digital billboards can also be used for important community messages, including Amber Alerts for when a child is missing and believed to be endangered.
That is all well and good, but many residents don’t want such signs shining light near their property, fearing they will be an eyesore and lower their property values.
There is a digital billboard along Interstate 95 in South Attleboro advertising Cardi’s Furniture, which has a nearby store.
A retired woman who lives on Newton Street near the sign has to put up with both light from the towering billboard and traffic from the adjacent highway.
“I hope not,” the woman, who didn’t want to give her name, said of more digital signs proposed in the area. “I don’t blame them” for being concerned, she said of other residents. “Who wants a billboard right there?
“I put blinds up in my house in the winter,” she said, noting in the summer, the trees have leaves on them and the light isn’t so intrusive.
However, she acknowledged, “After years of light coming in your window, you get so used to it. I’m so used to 95” traffic.
Among the ads that scroll on the Cardi’s sign, in addition to those for couches and mattresses, is one that mentions they have a community room available for free use.
Attleboro has a few of the digital signs, which were pre-existing regular billboards and converted to digital ones.
New “digital billboards are not allowed in the city,” Planning and Development Director Gary Ayrassian said in an email. “A billboard is considered an off-premises sign, which are not allowed in the city.”
As for light complaints, “My department hasn’t received any complaints from any neighbors; we also haven’t received any complaints from councilors who often bring such matters to our attention on behalf of constituents,” Ayrassian said.
Any requested deviation from the sign ordinance is subject to a special permit from the zoning board.
Two digital billboards are planned in North Attleboro.
One of the signs is earmarked at 119 John Dietsch Square and another at 0 Plain St. across from Boro Sand and Stone Corp., both which would be visible from I-95.
The signs received a principal use variance from the zoning board of appeals. Planning board members also approved the signs, with a level 1 site plan review, which is a limited review.
“My particular concern is the way to mitigate potential complaints,” Town Manager Michael Borg said, mentioning lights bothering neighbors. “My concern is the amount of light.”
The billboards have to be at least 500 feet from a home and in a commercial zone.
“There’s not a lot of places in North Attleboro” where the billboards can go up, Borg said.
A community host agreement can involve conditions including revenue for the town.
It is also expected the billboards can be used for community messages at no cost to the town.
In Foxboro, the subject of electronic billboards has been a hot topic at two town meetings.
Eight months after refusing to allow digital billboards along I-95, voters at a Jan. 30 special town meeting adopted a scaled-back regulation that restricts locations for the signs to only a few sites, and possibly only one.
Approved by a vote of 116 to 71, a double-sided electronic billboard would be permitted at the corner of Spring Brook and East Belcher roads, overlooking I-95.
The application was on Thursday night’s zoning board of appeals agenda but the applicant, American Outdoor Advertising of Swampscott, requested a continuance to April 20.
The sign would yield the town an estimated $50,000 in annual revenue each of the next 20 years, though at least one resident at the January town meeting questioned if the sum was worth it considering the size of the town’s $80 million budget and any negative impact of the signs.
The mitigation funds are required under a 2019 town bylaw revision that allowed electronic billboards along Route 1.
The digital billboards bring in more advertising revenue for owners than the standard billboards because advertising messages can be changed quickly and higher rates charged.
The request that wasn’t supported at Foxboro’s May town meeting would have also permitted a digital sign on the town’s public works garage property on Elm Street, which caused controversy.
The measure approved also increases the distance between any billboard and the closest dwelling from 350 to 1,000 feet and allows the town to post up to six hours of free community messaging each month.
The revised sign bylaw amendments came about from a citizens’ petition signed by 150 voters.
There have also been questions cropping up about what is allowed on billboards.
At the January Foxboro meeting, advisory committee Chairman Daniel Peterson pointed out that the First Amendment prohibits the town from controlling advertising content.
However, Peterson said American Outdoor Advertising has a policy that frowns on tobacco or adult content messages.
Many of the digital signs in the region, such as in Plainville, advertise marijuana businesses. Sports betting, which was recently approved in the state and allowed at Plainridge Park Casino, is also likely a sure bet to be advertised.
“It’s an evolving industry,” Frank Spillane, Foxboro’s town moderator and an attorney who represents the sign applicant, recently told selectmen when discussing digital signs. “We think this is the next step and will have minimal impact on residents. Possibly in the middle of winter some might be able to look out and see it.”
Robert Burr, a former Canton selectman and agent for American Outdoor, accompanied Spillane and said generally the signs are on 90-foot-high poles.
Burr acknowledged some residents won’t be able to be swayed to back billboards, and that includes Mark Powers of Prospect Street in Foxboro.
“As far as I’m concerned, billboards are a blight,” Powers told selectmen. “They take away from the image of the town, which I’d hate to see.”
In Plainville, the town has a handful of digital billboards, most along Route 1.
“I have heard no complaints about glare,” Christopher Yarworth, director of planning and development, said in an email.
“We do not allow new billboards under zoning, except in a small zone” at the I-495/Route 1 intersection, Yarworth said. “We have done three conversions in the last few years from paper to digital billboards.”
All were on Route 1 and from Carroll Advertising, but it recently sold two of the billboards to Outfront.
The applicants have to go before the zoning board for a change to a non-conforming use.
“In general, the board has been of the opinion that light spillage from digital billboards is less obtrusive than from paper billboards,” Yarworth said. “The LED’s can be louvered toward the roadway, and there is minimal side glare. The luminosity is adjusted based on the ambient natural lighting.”
Yarworth noted the town gets free time for posting messages on the digital boards.
In Norton, there is one digital sign abutting I-495.
“This is the only area where signs can be located,” Town Manager Michael Yunits said.
Under town zoning, no digital/electronic billboard can be located within 1,000 feet of a residential structure.
Carroll Advertising permitted the sign but ownership has now been transferred to Outfront Media.
The town has received $300,000 in mitigation payments, Yunits said, adding Norton businesses receive a 15% discount on advertising.
“We have received no complaints since the sign went live,” Yunits said.
In Wrentham, there are two digital billboards, one at 15 Ledgeview Way and the other at 578 Washington St. (Route 1).
New “billboards are not allowed, the ones that are existing have legal nonconforming status,” approved by the zoning board, Town Administrator Kevin Sweet said.
Sweet said he hasn’t fielded any feedback from residents.
The signs bring in $27,000 a year to the town, and each location also allows 15 hours of free town advertising. They are owned by Clear Channel and Carroll Advertising.
The road safety impact from the signs can’t be discounted, others stress.
“We are definitely concerned with them. They are a distraction, especially changing in front of drivers eyes. A lot of times they are very bright. They really stand out,” said Mark Schieldrop, a spokesman with AAA Northeast, adding it can take some time for drivers’ eyes to adjust after looking at them. “Every second you take your eyes off the road” could contribute to an accident.
“Roadways are filled with signs, it’s almost sign overload, and adding digital billboards in the mix is almost too much,” Schieldrop said. “There is plenty of research visual distractions play key roles” in crashes. “There are a lot of distractions happening inside a car” with electronic devices.
The messages are also a worry.
“It seems like every other one is for marijuana dispensaries opening up,” Schieldrop said. “We encourage people not to drive under the influence of cannabis.”