Continued: Judge turns billboard off and a new debate on

In the first court decision of its kind in Minnesota, a judge in Ramsey County has ordered Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. to shut off a flashing electronic billboard it installed in Arden Hills nearly two years ago without the city's permission.

The billboard -- one of a new generation that critics say threatens to turn American freeways into mini-Las Vegas strips -- was one of eight the company installed throughout the Twin Cities area, setting off a host of repercussions.

Attorneys for the city say that the ruling of J. Thomas Mott, a district judge in Ramsey County, is a major signal from the courts that these billboards do in fact represent a fundamental change and one that cities have the power to stop.

"The practical effect," said attorney John Baker, of the Minneapolis firm Greene Espel and representing Arden Hills, "is that it prevents a billboard company from unilaterally putting up a dynamic sign and saying it has a right to disregard local laws. To the contrary, it is an expansion of what they had before, and they've got to obey the laws as written."

Clear Channel attorneys could not be reached for comment.

Late in 2006, the company installed eight such billboards in the Twin Cities area, from Minnetonka in the west to Maplewood and Eagan in the east.

Minnetonka took the early lead in fighting back, describing the two installed there as an attempted end run around the objections that the company knew the city would have if it fully understood what was going on.

In the end a deal was reached: The city agreed to let them operate, provided the company tore down others within the city limits.

Arden Hills was different, said Baker, who represented both cities. "There are only two billboards in the entire city, about 100 feet apart from one another," near the intersection of Interstates 35W and 694. Arden Hills chose to press its case before the courts.

In his ruling, signed on Friday, Mott dismissed the company's claim that switching from a static, conventional billboard to a digital one, similar to a television set, is an "improvement."

Rather, he wrote, the change must be seen as "an enlargement and an expansion," which makes it illegal under local and state laws unless permission is granted. He ordered the company to shut the electricity down within seven days and remove the billboard from the site within 90 days.

If the company lost the case, however, Baker said, it achieved its aims for quite some time.

"This ruling is a complete rejection of their original complaint" against the city," he said, "but I suspect if you drive by today, you'd see still it operating. In that respect, it's not a complete loss for Clear Channel," which got many months of use out of it and can now move it to another spot.

David Peterson • 612-673-4440