The electronic billboard that shocked city of Pittsburgh politics this year isn't allowed Downtown, according to a split decision from the Zoning Board of Adjustment released late today.

The decision could lead to a protracted court fight between the city and Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising.

Board member Alice Mitinger, in a 17-page decision, found that Lamar's partially erected 1,098-square-foot Light Emitting Diode sign and a proposed 1,082.5-square-foot "ticker" sign aren't allowed on the Grant Street Transportation Center, Downtown.

Lamar's efforts to trade six traditional signs for the right to put one huge electronic billboard Downtown "can only be viewed as an effort to circumvent the [zoning] code's prohibition against advertising signs" in that area, Ms. Mitinger wrote. The Louisiana-based sign firm also failed to prove that the Transportation Center, which includes a bus station and a parking garage, couldn't function without the signs.

Lamar's testimony that it has spent millions of dollars on the sign didn't outweigh the sign's incongruity with the code, she wrote, "particularly in the absence of due diligence to comply with the code."

Board Chair Wrenna Watson wrote a two-page dissent, saying that the city had "a fairly well established custom" of granting electronic billboard permits in return for the removal of a larger number of vinyl billboards. She wrote that the complaints of residents of The Pennsylvanian, an apartment building across the street from the sign site, "seemed to be a case of NIMBY," an acronym for "not in my back yard" sentiments toward development.

"I am empathetic with the other residents, but find that liking the LED board is very subjective and those who don't like LEDs are passionate and speak out," she wrote. Putting the electronic sign between the stately Pennsylvanian and Liberty Center is "an appropriate mix of the beautiful old, historic development with the exciting, new development" the city needs.

The third board member, David Toal, did not participate because he has done legal work for Lamar. A tie vote "acts as a legal denial" of Lamar's claims, Ms. Watson wrote.

Lamar attorney Samuel Kamin said he hadn't seen the decision and couldn't comment. The firm has 30 days to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas.

The billboard won an over-the-counter permit from a zoning employee a year ago, without the public hearings and votes typically required for a sign that exceeds size limits. At around the same time, the Pittsburgh Parking Authority gave Lamar a no-bid lease to put a sign on the Transportation Center, without a vote of the authority board.

When the sign plan became public in February, it set off a landslide of events that included lawsuits between Lamar and City Council members, revelations of Christmas gifts from a Lamar executive to then-Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford, Mr. Ford's resignation and allegation of corruption, and a legal settlement between the city and Mr. Ford.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.