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Adams Outdoor pitches digital billboard: upfront easement or high-yearly lease and donated ad space for city events
Summary
Adams Outdoor proposed replacing or relocating a sign to a 12x24 digital billboard, offering either a $500,000 upfront easement payment (or $250,000 after 10/31/2026) or a lease paying $50,000/year if in service by 10/31/2026 (or $25,000/year after). Company would donate five 28-day ad periods for city PSAs and emergency messaging.
Jack Russell, real estate manager for Adams Outdoor’s Madison market, presented a digital billboard proposal and answered technical questions from the committee.
Russell outlined two business paths: a 20-year lease offering $50,000 per year if the sign is in service on or before Oct. 31, 2026 (or $25,000 per year if later), or an easement with a $500,000 upfront payment before Oct. 31, 2026 (or $250,000 after). He said Adams would remove the existing East Main poster if the new sign proceeds and would provide the city with five 28-day advertising periods each year for events and five emergency-PSA spots across Adams’ digital network.
Committee members probed the schedule and technical impacts. Russell said the company could prepare a lease quickly and that construction lead time after order is roughly 1.5 months. On illumination, he cited a Watchfire lighting report and said the sign’s highest measured illumination would be 0.28 foot-candles directly in front of the display, falling below 0.03 foot-candles beyond 300 feet and 0.01 at around 500 feet. He also said the displays will not use flashing effects and will rotate creatives in an eight-flip rotation with about eight seconds per flip.
Staff said they can draft a resolution for council and noted the council could choose to discuss lease terms in closed session. Jack offered to supply addresses of comparable Adams digitals for members to review offsite. No committee vote on the proposal took place; staff will prepare materials for council consideration.
