An appellate court has agreed that cities can make rules about billboards, even in their extraterritorial jurisdictions, overturning on Friday a lower-court ruling in a long-running case between Argyle and Clear Channel Outdoor.

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This billboard on FM407 sparked a lawsuit between Argyle and Clear Channel Outdoor. An appellate court ruled Friday that cities can make rules about billboards, even in their extraterritorial jurisdictions.

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Argyle town attorney Matthew Boyle said that, although the case isn’t finished, he was pleased that the Second Court of Appeals agreed that prohibiting billboards was not the same as taking someone’s property rights.

“We’re confident in the town’s position to be able to enforce a sign ordinance in the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction — where clearly that sign is,” Boyle said.

Clear Channel did not return a call Monday for comment.

Clear Channel and the original property owner, David Pierce, first sued Argyle in December 2003 over the town’s ordinance that expressly forbids billboards.

 Argyle had cited both parties the month before for violating the ordinance by erecting the billboard on FM407, almost a mile away from Interstate 35W.

Some of the dispute between Argyle and Clear Channel has focused on whether towns, in general, could make such rules governing extraterritorial jurisdictions and whether specifically the Clear Channel sign was built in Argyle’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Argyle has followed the lead of many Texas cities that have banned either new billboards or any altogether, to eliminate visual clutter and encourage economic development.

Federal laws have helped cut back on the proliferation of billboards for years, beginning with Lady Bird Johnson’s campaign to beautify and clean up roadsides and the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.

Legislatures in Alaska, Hawaii and Maine have passed bills that banned billboards altogether.

Boyle said that the court’s opinion wasn’t the final disposition of the case; instead, it was sent back to the original trial court.

“Even if its [the court’s] opinion is not appealed, this wasn’t the full and final closure of the case,” Boyle said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .