Just off Minnesota 280, a digital billboard display 14 feet tall by 48 feet wide will be installed overlooking Interstate 94, despite community opposition.

The St. Paul Planning Commission unanimously approved the application from New York-based OutFront Media in December, inspiring an appeal from Chelmsford Street resident Keith Hovland, who worked closely with anti-billboard advocates from Scenic St. Paul. The St. Anthony Park Community Council also submitted letters of opposition to the billboard.

On Wednesday evening, the St. Paul City Council voted 6-1 against Hovland’s appeal, noting the Planning Commission grounded its decision in city zoning codes.

“I don’t find sufficient evidence to justify that an error was made there,” said Council Member Mitra Jalali, who lives in the area. “I understand this has been emotional for many in the neighborhood.”

Council Member Jane Prince, who spoke passionately about public safety concerns, cast the sole dissenting vote.

The council heard strong feedback about the proposal during a public hearing leading up to the vote, with residents calling it a potential road hazard.

“It would stare right in your face as you round the bend on I-94,” said Luther Place resident Paul Strong.

“This is a quickly changing neighborhood which has gone from commercial/industrial to residential,” said Jeanne Weigum, a founding member of Scenic St. Paul.

Weigum raised concern that future Minnesota Department of Transportation improvements along Interstate 94 would force the display to be removed or relocated at taxpayer expense, a situation that cost taxpayers $7.3 million when MnDOT removed billboards along the route of U.S. 52-Lafayette Bridge improvements in 2010-2011.

In exchange for the dynamic display just south of Wabash Avenue, OutFront Media has agreed to remove 38 billboards and oversize exterior wall ads elsewhere throughout the city.

“Every ward gets at least two sign faces removed,” said John Bodger, a spokesman for OutFront Media. “That’s quite a few of our smaller signs, and they’ve been there over 20 years.”

Critics have said the billboards in question are mostly dilapidated, untended locations that needed to come down anyway.

The Wabash Avenue display isn’t the only proposed signage to roil anti-billboard activists. The Minnesota Wild recently teamed with Apple to propose a three-year, 58-foot-tall National Hockey League-themed iPhone banner on the Kellogg Boulevard side of the Xcel Energy Center.

The application, however, met with strong opposition from Scenic St. Paul. The team has since withdrawn its application.