Winter Park in bind over billboards

A grueling lawsuit over billboard permitting may have been a difficult pill to swallow that left Commissioners feeling victimized, but it’s not done yet.

Commissioners said they felt their backs against the wall during their Nov. 11 meeting as they had until the stroke of midnight to choose between two settlement agreements brought forward by Clear Channel Communications. The mass media company had a billboard approved earlier this year at the Ravaudage development, currently under construction in Winter Park.

Orange County approved a billboard shortly afterward for Max Media within 1,000 feet of Clear Channel’s future billboard, a violation of both county and Department of Transportation rules.

Both parties wanted their perspective billboards placed and a lawsuit was filed by Max Media to sort out the details.

City Commissioners had no choice but to choose a settlement on Nov. 11 and bring it back to finalize this week.

“I strongly recommend one of the two options, whichever one the Commission believes is in the best interest of the city, because it puts an end to this with no further expenditure,” City Attorney Larry Brown said.

Brown blamed the county for approving the billboard permit for Max Media, breaking its own rule in the process. Orange County hasn’t stepped forward and admitted its mistake, Brown said.

Matters only became worse when City Commissioners went through the two settlement options. The settlement, still unfinished as of Monday, likely would give Max Media the billboard space previously approved for Clear Channel, who in return receives a space on two existing digital billboards along Interstate 4.

Commissioner Carolyn Cooper saw the loss of the two I-4 billboards as not only a freebie for Clear Channel, but a hindrance in future negotiations.

“Those are worth so much,” Cooper said. “As soon as we give up those I-4 billboards, we no longer have negotiating power to remove any of the other billboards that we have in the city.”

City Commissioners had been looking to remove three static billboards at the intersection of Lee Road and U.S. 17-92 for aesthetic reasons. The removal of the billboards was also included in the settlement, but City Commissioners had their hands tied further when Max Media threatened that they would challenge Clear Channel’s entitlement to the billboard in court.

Brown believed they would have a good chance of succeeding, which would give Max Media the billboard space and leave Clear Channel holding the city hostage over the three billboards.

Commissioner Steve Leary said it was best to get out while they still could.

“While I don’t love this at all and I feel like the city’s being held hostage on some of this stuff, at the end of the day we’re going to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills,” Leary said.

The actions of Max Media and Clear Channel will not be forgotten, Mayor Ken Bradley said.

“We’ve been taken advantage of, folks,” Bradley said. “We’ve been taken advantage of by Max Media and we’re being taken advantage of by Clear Channel. I’ll get over it somehow, someway.”

“I think those who have brought this to the table should be ashamed of themselves, because they’re threatening the citizens of the city…They’re not threatening anybody else but the citizens for a billboard.”

The settlement decision could be finalized at the next Commission meeting.