State Lawmakers Target CSU Billboard Loophole

Sometimes the Denver playbook shows up in Fort Collins wearing a friendlier Patagonia. CBS Colorado covered how state lawmakers are looking at legislation that could force Colorado State University to take down billboards it has been installing on state-owned land around campus.

Fort Collins has prohibited billboards for decades, but CSU has used the state-land loophole to put up modern signs along major city-managed roads like College Avenue, Shields Street, and Prospect. Now Sen. Cathy Kipp is pushing a bill to prohibit signage or sound that is visible or audible from Fort Collins land if it would violate city code, with a waiver option.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Fort Collins has prohibited billboards for decades, with only a few grandfathered signs remaining.
• CSU has installed multiple large billboards around the edges of its Fort Collins campus on state-owned land.
• Sen. Cathy Kipp is introducing legislation to restrict CSU signage and sound that would be visible or audible from Fort Collins land and violate city code.
• CSU says the bill would set a concerning precedent for state lands, impact public safety infrastructure, and hurt the regional economy.
• Kipp says the signs are primarily revenue-driven and that CSU has not been a fair partner in responding to neighbors’ concerns.

My Bottom Line

Kathy Kipp is among the worst. Not because she is loud, but because she is predictably loud about one thing: more control, more rules, more hoops, more lectures.

This woman has never seen an aspect of your life that she doesn’t want to regulate, and now we are supposed to clap because she found a new target. Today it is billboards and stadium sound. Tomorrow it is whatever else offends the sensibilities committee.

Let’s not pretend this is complicated. CSU found a loophole on state land, Fort Collins hates billboards, and the answer from the Capitol is, of course, a brand-new state law to micromanage it.

God forbid that CSU actually generate a little revenue and find a way to underwrite expenses and perhaps even lower tuition. Translated: if CSU can make money without asking permission, the regulators will show up with a clipboard and a smile.

In Colorado politics, the fastest-growing crop is regulation.

Here’s the fix: stop grandstanding, start negotiating. If Fort Collins wants billboard standards, put clear, local terms on the table. If CSU wants revenue and safety messaging, prove it with real limits and real transparency. And if waivers are going to exist, make them objective and public, not the usual rules-for-thee discretion game. That won’t happen – as long as Kathy Kipp is within regulatory earshot!

Source: CBS Colorado