Billboards on the Bay

We live in a beautiful place and we are reminded of this every time we bike, walk, or drive around Humboldt Bay. Unfortunately, for many years these scenic coastal views have been marred by the presence of unsightly billboards jutting up along the Highway 101 Safety Corridor between Arcata and Eureka.

Humboldt Baykeeper has been working for years to have these billboards removed - legally and permanently. There have been many unsuccessful attempts in the past to remove these billboards, but in Sept. 2013, the California Coastal Commission responded to our calls to address this blight. Since then, Caltrans has finally revoked permits for most of the billboards along the bay. Since 2012, 16 fewer billboards obstruct our beautiful bay views between Arcata and Eureka, and today only 3 remain. We will continue our efforts until they are all gone for good.

Coastal Commission Affirms 101 Corridor Decision Despite Legal Threat from Billboard Company

11/14/13

Today in Newport Beach, the Coastal Commission finalized its Sept. 12 decision on the 101 Corridor Project. The Commissioners made it very clear to Caltrans that removal of all billboards between Arcata and Eureka is a critical component of the project, without which they would reconsider their "conditional approval." North Coast District Commissioner Martha McClure agreed, saying that Friday's letter from billboard company attorneys translates to "Caltrans may have to pay for removal of the signs, but that's the applicant's issue."

Billboard Company Unleashes Lawyers Who Use Big Words

11/11/13

Looks like the company that owns all those billboards between Arcata and Eureka just recently found out that the Coastal Commission wants them all torn down. It's response? "You can't make us!"

  That's a rough translation of the comically wordy lawyer-speak contained in a letter from attorney Anthony M. Leones of Miller Starr Regalia on behalf of CBS Outdoor Inc., owners of the billboards. What Leones actually wrote was, "The illegalities that inhere to these proposed actions are of a constitutional size." (Jeepers!)

Coastal Commission to Caltrans: If Interchange Goes Up, the Billboards Must Come Down

One of the big gains at the Sept. 12 Coastal Commission hearing in Eureka was the requirement that Caltrans will remove billboards on Highway 101 between Arcata and Eureka.

This visual blight mars our appreciation of the Bay’s scenic beauty, and the Commissioners agreed that this is a fair mitigation for the visual impact of a 25-foot high, half-mile long interchange at Indianola Cutoff. Many of these billboards will also need to be removed to make way for the Coastal Trail, which was also added as a condition of the Caltrans project.

Click HERE to download

NCJ's Ugliest Billboard Contest

3/22/12

Which billboard or other signage do you think uglies up 101 along the bay more than any other, either because of where it is or what it looks like? Take a gander at the candidates below. Then click HERE to cast your vote.

(Voting ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, 2012).

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Neely asks California Coastal Commission to investigate billboards on rail right-of-way

10/8/10

California Coastal Commission Chairwoman Bonnie Neely has asked her staff to investigate whether nine billboards along Humboldt Bay violate state law.

The signs are on the North Coast Railroad Authority right-of-way between Arcata and Eureka on U.S. Highway 101. But the rail authority doesn't want them there, and is trying to have them removed.

But billboard owner CBS Outdoor won't budge, according to county Supervisor Clif Clendenen, the county's representative to the NCRA board, despite a lawsuit the board has filed. Clendenen described CBS' retention of the billboards as “trespassing on public property.”

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