EAST LANSING – The city and Adams Outdoor Advertising have gone back-and-forth for decades on billboards in the city, and there's a new update on the situation.

East Lansing City Council voted to approve an amended settlement agreement and release agreement at its meeting Tuesday night regarding the number of billboards in the area and zoning text.

“Most notably, it reduces the number of billboards agreed to be placed or reconstructed on the City owned Coleman and West Property from three to two,” according to a City Council report.

Officials spent nearly three decades fighting to remove nearly all advertising billboards in the city, settling with Adams Outdoor Advertising in 2001 that left one billboard standing at Grand River Avenue and Saginaw Street intersection. But it didn't fully resolve potential legal disputes with the company.

Adams Outdoor Advertising filed lawsuits in 2017, January 2018 and March 2018, arguing city officials deliberately and arbitrarily denied a request for a digital billboard permit. It also argued the city handled an appeal process improperly.

In August 2019, East Lansing and Adams Outdoor Advertising settled the three lawsuits. The settlement allowed more billboards but kept the advertising mechanism away from the city's downtown area.

During the implementation process, it became clear several clarifications were necessary, which the approved agreements address, according to the East Lansing report.

Billboards allowed with the amended agreement include:

If the city permits digital billboards in the Downtown Development Authority District in the future, Adams Outdoor Advertising will have the right to receive the first three permits upon paying $50,000 per digital permit, according to the agreement.

The city does have immediate access to any digital billboard faces during public emergencies and 16 times per year East Lansing can use an advertising spot rotation on each face for promotional messages and community announcements.

Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.