ORANGE BEACH — The last billboard in Orange Beach, formerly located on Perdido Beach Boulevard, has been taken down due to a settlement between the city and Lamar Companies in 2010.
The settlement also led to the removal of three other Lamar billboards in the city limits. Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said each of the billboards that were in Orange Beach had to "run their course through the contract" before their removal could be executed.
"It's nothing more than we spend a lot of time, effort and money on keeping our city clean and keeping it looking like a community," Kennon said.
Kennon said the removal of these billboards "goes hand in hand" with the coastal aesthetic seen in the recent building remodeling throughout the city.
"Then you see the billboards, and it looks commercial," Kennon said, "and it doesn't look like home. It doesn't look like paradise."
Kennon said this is one example of how the city is trying to manage growth while maintaining "a clean and aesthetically pleasing" area. He mentioned that any condos that are seen going up are on properties were previously zoned for condominiums before the current mayor and city council were in place.
SUMMARY OF CITY OF ORANGE BEACH V. THE LAMAR COMPANIES
The legal dispute started in 1991 when the City of Orange Beach adopted a new zoning ordinance that decreed "off-premises signs within its jurisdiction" as "nonconforming signs" according to the 2024 Supreme Court of Alabama case City of Orange Beach v. The Lamar Companies, which can be found on www.caselaw.findlaw.com.
As "nonconforming signs," they must be maintained only with paint and appearance changes. If it is determined that a nonconforming sign had become "dilapidated of structurally unsound," that sign must be removed within 20 days.
The "nonconforming signs" classification applied to signs that were constructed before the ordinance was adopted. Lamar Companies had four billboard signs that now all were considered "nonconforming."
All four signs were considered "nonconforming" after 1991, but it wasn't until 2007 that Orange Beach's city inspector determined the four Lamar billboards to be in a dilapidated state and recommended the removal of the billboards. Lamar Companies appealed to the Board of Adjustment of the City of Orange Beach and, after that appeal was denied, to the Baldwin Circuit Court.
That led to several years of legal action between the City of Orange Beach and Lamar Companies that ultimately ended in a settlement in 2010.
In 2011, Circuit Judge J. Langford Floyd and Circuit Judge Robert E. Wilters ordered the consent decrees that explained the settlement involved the removal of three of the billboards within 60 days of the order.
The fourth billboard, which was the one most recently removed this year, was allowed to stay in place and receive certain modifications but had to be removed within 12 years.
About a month before the 12 years were up, Orange Beach sent a letter to Lamar reminding them of the settlement terms and how the fourth billboard would soon need to be removed and that if they were not removed, "further legal action" would be pursued. Lamar did not respond.
Another letter was sent out by Orange Beach after the 12 years were up as a final notice to Lamar, again with no response. The billboard remained standing.
Further legal action from both sides ensued until the case eventually reached the Alabama Supreme Court where they ruled in favor of Orange Beach.
This ruling stated that it was decided because there was no reasoning behind Lamar's "failing to remove" the final billboard in the allotted time. The Alabama Supreme Court decision on May 17 resulted in the removal of the last of Orange Beach's "nonconforming" billboards in mid-September.