Peabody council sets show-cause hearing for unpaid billboard fees, discusses abandoned signs

The Peabody City Council on Jan. 9 approved a motion to schedule a show-cause hearing for ShoutOutdoor Entertainment over unpaid fees for a billboard located at 80 Newbury Street and directed staff to pursue separate action on abandoned billboards.

Councilor Gamache, who raised the matter, asked that the city schedule a show-cause hearing and said the auditor’s office had provided a communication on late payments. The council voted to receive the communication and to request scheduling of the show-cause hearing.

Separately, councilors discussed multiple billboards the auditor flagged as dismantled or abandoned. Councilor Gamache identified two locations on Newbury Street: one that has been dismantled at 271 Newbury Street and one at 258 Newbury Street that remains standing but currently carries no advertising. He also noted a dismantled billboard behind a Lowell Street property that had been removed in earlier years.

Council members moved the abandoned-billboard item into the Legal Affairs Committee for drafting of enforceable removal authority and discussed asking the city clerk for a recommended committee assignment to develop an enforceable plan for removal. The council also approved a routine transfer of ownership for a billboard at Red’s Plaza; Gamache said the transfer reflected a July sale and that conditions remain the same.

Councilors instructed staff to pursue a formal show-cause hearing for the late fees and to bring a draft approach for addressing abandoned billboards to the Legal Affairs Committee.

No specific statute or ordinance text was read into the record during the discussion; councilors referenced auditor communications and city billing records. The council did not adopt any new ordinance at the meeting; it referred enforcement and drafting work to committee.