Highway 280/I-94 billboard fight drags on

OutFront Media’s long quest to erect a large digital display billboard near Highway 280 and Interstate 94 continues with an appearance before the St. Paul Planning Commission in the weeks ahead. District councils from Union Park and St. Anthony Park are opposing the proposal, as is the anti-billboard group Scenic St. Paul.

Union Park District Council’s land use committee was the latest group to weigh in against the billboard request, voting to do so July 20, 2026.

A Planning Commission public hearing date hasn’t been set. OutFront Media needs a variance to replace a static 14-foot by 48-foot billboard’s east face with a 14-foot by 48-foot dynamic or changing, lit sign on its east face. It also needs a variance to change the billboard angle. The billboard address is 2516 Wabash Ave.

OutFront’s request won City Council approval in February 2020. The council voted 6-1 to uphold prior Planning Commission approval and reject a citizen’s appeal. Support for OutFront was led by then-Ward Four Council Member Mitra Jalali, who said the Planning Commission hadn’t erred in granting the variance.

The request comes as city planning staff and the Planning Commission are considering loosening citywide sign regulations, even to the point of eliminating every neighborhood special sign district in St. Paul. Most of those districts were created years ago as a means to regulate billboards.

“This billboard has been in play for several years,” said Jeanne Weigum of Scenic St. Paul. The group’s contention is that the sign will be a distraction to motorists. Another objection is that if and when I-94 is built, it’s possible that moving the billboard would be done at public expense.

One issue the St. Anthony Park Community Council is raising is that the Highway 280/I-94 area is already dangerous and will be reconfigured someday. The billboard is located close to Minnesota Department of Transportation right-of-way and will likely need to be removed or relocated when that work happens.

Removal of a billboard near the LaFayette Bridge cost the state $4.2 million recently,
Years ago, billboard companies and the City Council agreed to a trade out of neighborhood billboards so that larger, dynamic display signs could be erected along freeways in the city. A set number of the smaller signs in neighborhoods had to come down before a larger dynamic freeway sign could go up.

District councils reviewed the billboards within their areas and recommended candidates for removal. But in 2025 interim Ward Four Council Member Matt Privratsky brought forward a technical change that made it easier for billboard companies to earn sign removal credits. This was done without a public hearing or any community process.

OutFront began removing signs in 2019, but for what it calls “a variety of reasons” was unable to complete the sign conversion project. The variances have expired and need to be sought again.
OutFront contends it has removed almost 40 neighborhood billboards to earn the credit for the new sign variances. But Scenic St. Paul and the district councils counter that not all of the billboards meet the criteria. Some were removed more than a year ago, which falls outside of the sign credit timeline. Others were removed by property owners, which means they aren’t eligible to be counted as part of a sign credits request.

Billboard relocation and conversion ordinances mandate that OutFront Media remove six square feet of illuminated billboard space or eight square feet of non-illuminated billboard space, for each square foot of dynamic display space created. City and OutFront Media staff negotiated the list of smaller billboards to be moved in 2019.