Town to Remain Opposed to Billboard Regardless of Accident Study

Westwood officials are planning to remain opposed to a proposed digital billboard on University Avenue, regardless of what a safety study reveals. 

The study is being conducted by the state highway department's Office of Outdoor Advertising, and will focus on vehicular accidents related to billboard distractions. But even if the results of that study indicate there would not be serious risk to drivers, the town is not likely to change its view. 

"I think that our issue is that, regardless of what the accident report may say, it's highly unlikely that the data is based on a situation that's similar to what we have," said Westwood's Town Administrator, Mike Jaillet. "There are major traffic movements along Rte. 128 that sign is just going to interfere with."

The billboard in question is being proposed by Clear Channel, a company that, along with the MBTA, is trying to install 10 such billboards in the various communities, including Medford, Foxborough and Stoneham. (Nine of the 10 billboards are already up, and are bringing in about $720,000 in annual income, according to a recent article on Boston.com.)

The sign would be be placed at Rte. 128 train station, though on the part of the property that lies in Dedham, and would be 55 feet off the ground, 14 feet tall and 48 feet wide, and feature an LED screen, which would rotate ads every 10 seconds, creating a veritable "slideshow."

"That's what they're building now," Jaillet said. "These digital billboards that switch images every 10 seconds or so. The traditional billboard, you put on a picture and that's up for whatever time period it was rented for. So you're renting that space one image at a time. Now they can have multiple images that change on a rotating basis."

The Westwood Board of Selectman at its meeting last month, and subsequently sent a letter to the Office of Outdoor Advertising, reiterating their opposition. 

Neither Westwood nor Dedham needs to approve of the billboard, as it would be placed on MBTA property, but to successfully install the sign, Clear Channel needs support from the local level to attain a permit from the state level. 

"We've jointly opposed every time they call a public hearing on this," Jaillet said. 

Less than two years ago, Westwood officials joined Dedham to oppose a standard-style billboard Clear Channel had proposed at Rte. 128 Station. 

Their red light caused the matter to be closed, until earlier this summer, when Clear Channel .

The next step, Jaillet said, is for the Office of Outdoor Advertising to bring its results of the safety study to the Dedham Board of Selectmen next month. 

As some added incentive, Clear Channel has offered to take down three vinyl billboards in Dedham or pay the town $25,000 a year for the next 25 years. Dedham would also have at least five hours of programming on the billboard each month at no cost.

Meanwhile, Westwood resident Pam Peckinpaugh has also outwardly opposed the sign, saying it is a serious safety hazard for traffic along Rte. 128 traveling in either direction. 

"How many of those people are going to be distracted?" asked Peckinpaugh, who currently lives close to the train station and the location of where the sign would be.

Adding to that, she also made reference to the notion of other billboards in some of the other towns in which Clear Channel has taken root, and said none are in a similar area or situation as that of the Rte. 128 train station overlooking the highway.

"There's such a high concentration (of billboards) in Medford and Stoneham, where the billboard here would be the first of its kind," she said. "I just hope that people realize it's not the best spot, when you consider the mergers and the truck traffic."

Moreover, she said the sign could be a serious issue for potential developers of Westwood Station down the road.

"If they want to make it viable to some developer down the road, they can no longer tout that from your condo you'll have nice views of the city, because you're going to see the digital billboard," she said. "I couldn't think of a worse spot."