101 digital billboard in works: Media company offering lucrative highway sign deal to South San Francisco

The city’s general fund stands to accept a windfall of money, should officials approve posting the screen, which is 17 feet tall and 59 feet wide, on poles nearly 70 feet above the freeway.

Clear Channel is offering an annual payment beginning at $140,000, with a 12.5 percent escalation every five years, to post a new sign at 101 Terminal Court, in the Park N’ Fly parking lot, and also raise an existing sign at the intersection of Dubuque and Grand avenues by 20 feet, according to a city report.

The signs could aid the city in a variety of fashions, should the council approve their construction, said Alex Greenwood, director of Economic and Community Development.

“A digital billboard like this would offer a more modern presentation,” he said. “It would potentially help with our branding, afford the opportunity for public service announcements from time to time and there would be financial benefits to the city in terms of the payments Clear Channel would make.”

The billboard proposed at Terminal Court, located just west of Highway 101, would consist of two 1,003-square-foot screens pointed toward commuters headed both directions, and would feature a smaller sign displaying City of South San Francisco below the digital display.

Should it be approved, the digital billboard would be the first of its kind in South San Francisco, according to Greenwood.

An existing billboard located at the intersection of Dubuque and Grand avenues, on property owned by Union Pacific Railroads, would be raised 20 feet to roughly 64 feet above the east side of Highway 101, under the proposal as well.

To lay the groundwork for approval, officials would need to loosen existing restrictions on building large signs, which currently discouraged the city from adding new billboards, according to a city report.

Should officials approve the proposal, the amendment may open the door for adding another digital billboard, but the city is limited in the amount of signs it can post along Highway 101, said Greenwood.

Caltrans has identified the section of Highway 101 near South San Francisco as a landscaped freeway, which imposes a regulation on concentrating billboards along the stretch of road, and requires 1,000 feet of separation from the next sign on the same side of the highway, according to the report.

While considering whether to approve the billboard, officials need to consider the impact the new signs might have on the surrounding environment, said Greenwood.

Residents and commuters have not expressed concerns regarding the new billboards, but officials will remain mindful of how to address issues such as glare from the digital display, whether the signs might block views or if they are being constructed too close to homes, said Greenwood.

“Even if we have not received any complaints, we are really going the extra mile to make sure there are not issues,” he said.

The digital billboard will display advertisements and messages on an LED screen between 6 a.m. and midnight, and will periodically post public notices approved by the city, under an agreement approved by Clear Channel.

During an initial review of the proposal by the city’s housing subcommittee, members questioned how effective a sign directed toward Highway 101 would be in notifying residents about updates regarding the city.

So in response, Clear Channel agreed to construct a sign specifically intended to display community messages at a location yet to be determined by city officials.

Greenwood said he believes Clear Channel has offered a variety of improvements to South San Francisco in the proposal, but the council holds the ultimate power on whether the project will move forward.

“The potential public benefits are considerable, but it is the council’s decision,” he said.

The South San Francisco City Council meets Wednesday, July 8, in the Municipal Services Building, 33 Arroyo Drive. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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