Billboards May Face Legal Action Prosecutor Says Puyallup Tribe May Be Violating Deal With Signs

Members of the Puyallup Indian Tribe say they’re following all the rules in putting up billboards on land they own next to Interstate 5.

But Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg isn’t so sure, and he’s thinking of taking the matter to federal court.

Tribal members have already put up about a dozen billboards, and another 20 are in the works.

Ladenburg said he thinks the signs go against a 1988 land-claims settlement agreement between the tribe and the federal, state and local governments. If the Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the billboard applications, he said, “we should appeal it and we should go to federal court to stop it.”

Non-Indians can’t build billboards next to the freeway. But members of the tribe can put them up on land they’ve bought and put into federal trust. Indian-owned trust land isn’t subject to state or local laws, only to federal or tribal laws.

Before land can be put into trust, the tribal member has to tell the BIA what he or she plans to do with it, and the bureau must approve the plans.

Under the 1988 settlement, which resolved longstanding land and treaty disputes, members of the tribe also must notify local governments of their plans to put land into trust or make major changes on trust lands.

Herman Dillon, Puyallup tribal chairman, said local governments have been notified of all pending billboard applications.

Tribal member Annette Bryan, who recently applied to build a new billboard next to I-5 in Fife, said she has followed all legal requirements.

“This is no small deal,” she said Wednesday. “We’ve taken our time. We’ve jumped through all the hoops.”

Ladenburg said some tribal members are working with non-Indian companies to put up the signs. The companies aren’t allowed to put the billboards up themselves but are exploiting the situation to put up signs and evade local property taxes, he said.

“We don’t want companies to come in and … use tribal members as fronts,” he said.

Bryan said she’s not a front for non-Indian companies.

“BIA has reviewed all the lease agreements to make sure that the tribal member is not being taken advantage of,” she said. She also hired an independent company to review the lease.

Randy Lewis, Tacoma’s government relations officer, said that while city officials have expressed concerns to the Puyallups about the signs, the city isn’t interested in a lawsuit.

Bryan, who is running for tribal council, said the tribe has nearly completed a new zoning code to limit the number of billboards the tribe will approve.

“I think the tribe is working very hard to solve this problem,” she said. “They want to be good neighbors to the county and to the city.”