Pittsburgh officials on Wednesday ordered Lamar Advertising, the nation's largest outdoor advertising company, and Sprint Corp. to remove a sign erected Tuesday on the former Bayer Co. billboard on Mt. Washington.
Neither Sprint nor Lamar filed an application with the city for a permit to erect the sign. The city Department of Permits, Licenses & Inspections issued a notice of violation to Lamar for erecting the billboard sign without a permit.
The city said it will seek to impose fines and penalties against Lamar and Sprint.
“This is an unauthorized and unpermitted sign, erected without public oversight, much like the sign Lamar tried to put on the Grant Street Transportation Center years ago,” Mayor William Peduto said Wednesday in a statement. “We had been in good faith negotiations with Lamar about the long term use of the billboard and had requested a hold on any static sign installation by the company.”
Stan Geier, a territory manager for Lamar, said the sign has been a legally permitted advertising sign for more than 70 years.
Lamar bought the sign, permits and land in 1999 from Chancellor Media, he said.
“We are surprised by the mayor's statement and are confident the use is permitted and in compliance with all the applicable codes,” Geier said. “We look forward to working with the city so that we can resolve any misunderstandings they may have.”
Attempts to reach Sprint were unsuccessful.
Lamar has battled Pittsburgh for years in court over billboard restrictions.
In 2011, the company agreed in a settlement to remove a partially built, electronic billboard from the Grant Street Transportation Center, Downtown. The sign cost Lamar more than $1 million, court records show.
Removing it ended a controversy that began in 2007 when a city official improperly issued Lamar a permit to build the large, curved LED billboard without first requiring it to obtain zoning variances.
