Plymouth Approves Digital Billboards

Commuters along Interstate 494 and Highway 169 can expect to see changes coming to billboards when driving through the Plymouth area. The city council approved a zoning ordinance this week that would allow dynamic display billboards to replace some static billboards. The new digital billboards would have to be at least one mile apart.

There will not be any billboards converted to digital use along Highway 55.

Plymouth’s current 18 billboards have been in place since 1996. A moratorium passed in 1998 prohibited additional billboards. Each static billboard has two faces, which means there are 36 billboard faces in Plymouth.

Staff believe a maximum of four along I-494 could convert to digital and three along Highway 169. The ordinance also requires the removal of two structures for every one new digital structure.

The zoning ordinance change also regulates illumination and movement on the dynamic billboard. The billboard can only change once every eight seconds and will only have static images, not moving video.

Two companies own billboards in Plymouth. A representative from Clear Channel spoke at the council meeting and said the updates were a “win-win” for the company.

Plymouth