PA Supreme Court: Five Points Billboard Will Stay Down

The Five Points Intersection billboard will stay down.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania denied Adsmart Outdoor Advertising's petition for an allowance of appeal, putting what looks to be an end to the longstanding controversy over the billboard that was removed last spring.

"It’s the final nail in the coffin for the Bryn Mawr billboard," Lower Merion's Ward 10 Commissioner Scott Zelov told his constituents in an email. "This is another victory against unwanted billboards that don’t belong in our suburban community."

The billboard in question, once located at the Five Points intersection of Lower Merion and Radnor townships, was removed in March of 2012, after the Lower Merion Zoning Board, Court of Common Pleas, County Court and the Commonwealth Court issued rulings against it.

AdSmart shares the same owners as Bartkowski Investment Group, an organization that had designs on erecting five billboards in Haverford Township, including two along Lancaster Avenue that would overlook the Bryn Mawr section of Lower Merion

While the fate of the Five Points billboard is, apparently, sealed, the larger conflict isn't over yet. According to Zelov, the denial of the other billboard proposal in Bryn Mawr, this one on Lancaster Avenue, has been appealed to a county court and will be argued in August.

"It’s a long battle against unwanted billboards in Bryn Mawr, but so far every legal decision has been against the billboards," the commissioner added.

Previous Patch Coverage of the Billboard Controversy

• Five Points Billboard Update: State Court Affirms Prohibition
• Five Points Billboard Appeal Filed
• Five Points Billboard Comes Down
• Judge: Five Points Billboard Must Come Down
• Zoning Board Votes No On Billboards
• BIG Owner Shares Thoughts As Billboard Vote Looms
• Court Rules with Lower Merion on Five Points Billboard
• Closing Arguments Made in Billboard Case on Township's Border
• BIG Expert's Billboard Report Released
• BIG Expert Admits Not Doing Thorough Job On Billboard Report
• Residents: We Don’t Want Billboards
• BIG Presents Engineer to Testify in Billboard Hearing
• Lower Merion Residents Speak Out Against Haverford Billboards
• Billboard Debate on Township's Border Persists
• Billboard Debate Continues in Haverford Township