Pasco banned new billboards 18 years ago. This proposal could double them

Driving around Pasco, you’ll spot just a handful of billboards in the city limits. Most are along Highway 12 and Highway 395.

They advertise regional casinos, wineries and some small local businesses.

But there haven’t been any added in the city since a ban was enacted about 18 years ago.

Now, Pasco City Council is being asked to lift its restrictions and allow more billboards, including digital ones, in some parts of town.

If approved as proposed, the city could double the number of billboards inside the city to a total of 28.

“It would be up to each property owner to decide if it’s something they would be interested in applying for and taking advantage of,” said Jacob Gonzalez, Pasco’s community and economic development director.

The proposed change also would expand where billboards could be built.

Downtown Pasco on the east end of town is one of the areas proposed for adding more. More could be installed along Highway 12, Highway 395 and the Highway 397 corridor near the cable bridge.

They would be barred in the Broadmoor development on the west end of the city.

The intent of the proposal is to allow for more advertising opportunities in Pasco and give business owners the ability to earn money from the billboards on their properties.

However, it’s already drawing some concerns, including the sheer size of billboards placed in the downtown area. Businesses also have raised concerns that their competitors will advertise on billboards near their property.

John Lehman, regional lease manager with Meadow Outdoor Advertising, submitted the request that’s currently being reviewed by Pasco City Council after an initial presentation earlier this month.

“We work with local small businesses in each of our markets,” Lehman later told the Tri-City Herald. “We feel there is a need for small businesses here to have affordable advertising.”

Meadow’s billboards are mostly directional — they point out the number of miles, feet or exits to get to the advertised small business, he said.

Lehman said current city rules allow businesses to advertise their own services and products with freestanding pole signs, or “on-premise signs,” that are up to 350 square feet.

Billboards would be defined as “off-premise signs,” meaning the business, service or entertainment advertised is offered somewhere other than where the billboard is located.

The freestanding billboards would be up to 250 square feet, 35 feet tall and spaced at least 500 feet apart.

Lehman said that Meadow has a policy so that there is no competition created between businesses in close proximity. They also self-censor advertisements for marijuana, pornography and anything controversial.

“To put an advertisement on a sign that is competitive with somebody right across the street, it’s in our policy not to do that,” Lehman said. “It’s just not neighborly.”

Thomas Grandbois, who owns Big Maple Properties in downtown Pasco told the city council July 8 that he’s concerned about the possibility of outside competing businesses coming in to advertise.

Grandbois also said another reason that he and neighboring business owners are not in favor of billboards in the downtown area is because of the height of billboards where there are low-lying buildings.

Lehman told the Herald that he predicts that the billboards could be placed on the edges of downtown Pasco, rather than the core area.

Existing building construction in downtown Pasco also limits space available for new billboards because of the space between buildings.

Gonzalez told the Herald that billboards may be better suited for vacant lots.

Downtown Pasco businesses owners have said they hope to receive more opportunities to market and advertise in the area.

“If this is approved as an allowed use in the downtown, it could be something that a property owner could take advantage of,” Gonzalez said. “As for the feasibility of it, that is a different question.”

Pasco city staff is preparing an updated ordinance for the city council to review in the coming weeks.