The Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Scenic Texas in an effort to get the Third Court of Appeals in Austin to modify its recent ruling against the Texas Highway Beautification Act, which could permit unfettered billboard installation in Texas.

The cause for the ruling is a suit by Texas-based Auspro Enterprises, which was asked by Texas Department of Transportation in 2012 to remove a political sign on its Austin area Planet K property because it had been up longer than the Texas Highway Beautification Act allows. Auspro refused and sued the state, citing its right to free speech.

Subsequently, the Third Court of Appeals determined in August that sections of the state’s current regulations of billboards are unconstitutional, paving the way for unregulated and unpermitted commercial advertising billboards of any number, size or height across the state, according to a statement by Scenic Houston.

Austin’s Third Court of Appeals ruled that Texas Department of Transportation does not have complete authority to limit billboards, citing free speech.[/caption]

Anne Culver, president of Scenic Texas’ Houston chapter, said an effort is being organized that will ask the Third Court of Appeals to determine that the ruling was too broad and should only apply to political signs on private property, such as what occurred in the Auspro case.

“The dismantling of the Texas Highway Beautification Act is like killing a mosquito with a sledgehammer,” Culver said.

The Texas Highway Beautification Act, which is enforced through the TxDOT’s Right of Way Division, states parameters for highway billboards. It regulates the display of outdoor advertising signs and is in accordance with the federal Highway Beautification Act, which attempts to limit billboards along U.S. highways.

The mission of Scenic Houston, a chapter of Scenic Texas, is sign regulation and city streetscape enhancement. Scenic Houston joined Scenic Texas, HNWCC and other amicus partners in a legal petition that was filed Oct. 7 to support the Texas attorney general’s motion on behalf of TxDOT for a rehearing to reconsider a “remedy” in the case.

The attorney general’s office filed the motion for the rehearing Sept. 27, according to the attorney general’s office.

HNWCC has a history with Scenic Houston and Scenic Texas as partners battling billboards, HNWCC President Barbara Thomason said.

“A lot of people think that billboards are not a big deal,” she said. “[Texas] can be a beautiful place if you eliminate or minimize billboards. There are many ways to advertise businesses or programs, and billboards are not a necessary thing.”

TxDOT spokesperson Veronica Beyer declined to elaborate on the case but expressed an interest in the rehearing.

“We are in communication with the attorney general’s office and the Federal Highway Administration on the direction forward for TxDOT regarding this decision,” Beyer said.

Thomason said the chamber’s interest is both economic and aesthetic.

“When I was still a child, Lady Bird Johnson pushed to get the Texas Beautification Act enacted to protect the beauty of Texas highways,” she said. “So how can anyone let this happen?”

Thomason said the issue of billboards knows no boundaries with aesthetic issues extending beyond Spring and Klein, to outside of northwest Harris County.

“This act flies in the face of the intent of the Texas Beautification Act,” Thomason said. “It’s just alarming. The court case had nothing to do with billboards on the highways—it had to do with political signs.”

The timeline for consideration and decision on the motion is unknown at this point, Culver said.

“If one drives into many other communities in Texas or in other states, billboards are not visually polluting the landscape,” Thomason said. “That is not the case here, and if the appeal being waged by Scenic Texas is not successful, we will see billboards
further populate our highways.”