By Chloe Waskey
The Ramspondents

CSU's new electronic signs are drawing opposition from some residents.

Colorado State University put up multiple digital billboards earlier this summer in a rare move of defiance against the city of Fort Collins. Large signs and billboards have been outlawed in the city for decades, a point of pride for many residents.

The move has left many members of the community and municipal government frustrated. Fort Collins’ sign code was established in 1971 to maintain road safety and preserve the city’s aesthetic, but eight of the 12 digital signs will be placed on the edge of university property in plain view of busy roads.

Community member Griffin Riddout said he has lived in Fort Collins his whole life and was shocked to see a billboard appear on Shields and Elizabeth.

“They just don’t match the rest of the city,” he said. “I know it is kind of a trivial thing, but Fort Collins is supposed to be a really pretty town and the billboards are just ugly. I don’t need to see ads on my way to work.”  

CSU typically complies with city ordinances, but compliance has been voluntary as the university is technically a state entity and not beholden to municipal law.

According to Fort Collins development review manager Noah Beals, the billboards violate city ordinance in multiple ways: They are too large, too bright, too close to the road, have an incorrect base and flash messages too quickly.

“Our sign regulations, all of them are to prevent sign clutter and also to limit distractions that may happen,” Beals said. “Signs and billboards tend to be large in nature and demand attention. It may be counterproductive to somebody driving a car at the same time.”

Tianna Kennedy, a spokesperson for CSU, said the billboards will help the university communicate safety hazards and weather closures to students. Currently, students receive alerts via text and email.

"The additional digital signs will augment our communications tools with highly visible, real-time alerts and messaging for the campus community," Kennedy said in a statement to The Coloradoan.

The safety alert system has not yet been set up on the billboards, but advertising has. Street Media Group, an outdoor advertising company, owns the billboards and takes a portion of any profit generated by advertisements. CSU retains much of the rest.

Despite CSU’s safety claims, some doubt the billboards serve a purpose beyond monetary gain. District 5 council member Kelly Ohlson, who has been a staunch critic of the billboards, said he is unimpressed with the university’s reasoning.

“If you're on campus, you get your emergency messages from a phone,” Ohlson said. “So that was insulting, that we think we're supposed to swallow that it's about safety. No, it's about money. And here's the great irony: Those billboards along the major thoroughfares like Shields are a safety hazard because people are looking at them, and that's a busy intersection of West Elizabeth and Shields.”

CSU has not yet erected all 12 billboards, but plans to complete the project are still underway. The only rout to halting construction would be for city council to petition the state government to pass legislation that would require CSU to comply with municipal ordinance. However, this is a lengthy process that city council has not indicated interest in.

Still, Ohlson hopes local outcry will eventually encourage the city to take action.

“I think the city organization and perhaps Council feels that their hands are tied,” he said. “I'd like to see state legislation that says that CSU has to comply with city rules and regulations and policies.”

DarkSky Colorado, a statewide nonprofit focused on nighttime environment conservation, quickly launched a petition asking CSU to remove the billboards. The petition claims the billboards create too much light pollution and details subsequent negative effects on the environment and public health.

“LED billboards are a leading cause—perhaps the leading cause—of light pollution, defined as the inappropriate or excessive use of outdoor artificial light,” the petition reads. “Light pollution has serious, well-known negative impacts on nocturnal wildlife, public health, and quality of life.”

According to Kennedy, the signs are only to be illuminated from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Although community outrage over the billboards has largely died down since July, CSU’s noncompliance raises questions about relations between the city and the university. The choice to wield state power over the local government was an uncommon reminder that CSU is separate from the community in many ways.   

“CSU is not respecting the broader community when it comes to the sign code,” Ohlsen said. “It kind of had an insular view and didn't respect the broader community values as it relates to community character and aesthetics.”

Chloe Waskey is a CSU student majoring in journalism and media communication with a minor in political science. 

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