MILTON – The owner of a Granite Avenue office building plans to seek state approval for an electronic billboard despite mounting opposition, which will likely include the town's select board.

Ned Corcoran, a lawyer representing the John Flatley Co., told the select board at Wednesday night's meeting that the company will ask the state Outdoor Advertising Board to approve construction a 47-foot-high, two-sided billboard in the parking lot of 2 Granite Ave.  The property is close to the Southeast Expressway and along the Neponset River, which forms the boundary with Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.

Select board Chair Katie Conlon said the board has received many comments from Milton and Dorchester residents in opposition to the proposed billboard, which would be the first one in town. Among the opponents are Boston City Councilor Frank Baker, who represents District 3 in Dorchester, as well as the Cedar Grove Civic Association in Dorchester and the Neponset River Watershed Association.

A change.org petition against the billboard collected more than 2,000 signatures as of Sunday.

Maura Doherty, of Canton Avenue, said lights from the billboard will harm the nearby Neponset River estuary with "relentless light pollution" in an area that's a breeding ground for hundreds of species of plants and animals.

Corcoran replied that the office building property was specifically excluded from the area designated as an area of critical environmental concern. He said the impact to wetlands would be limited to the  3-to-4-foot-square base of the billboard.

He urged the select board to designate a member to negotiate a site agreement with the developer, which could be a source of revenue for the town.

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Three select board members said they are inclined to oppose the billboard proposal.

Conlon said she is persuaded by the environmental arguments against the electronic billboard.

Board members Michael Zullas and Melinda Collins also said they are also leaning toward  opposing the billboard.

The board has scheduled a vote on the proposal at its March 9 meeting.

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The John Flatley Co. also proposed putting an electronic billboard on the Braintree/Quincy line along Route 3 last summer and met instant opposition from residents and officials in both communities. The proposal was eventually pulled from zoning board consideration. 

The plan would have put a 35-foot-tall billboard at 1 Crown Colony Drive in Quincy, on the highway side of the Elevation complex property. The sign would have faced Route 3 toward Braintree and been visible to northbound traffic headed into Boston. 

Town officials and residents from Braintree, including Mayor Charles Kokoros,  strongly opposed the plan. Residents across the highway in Braintree, which is at a lower elevation than the billboard site, feared that the billboard would be bright enough to shine into their homes, especially in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. They also had safety concerns about a billboard distracting drivers on busy highway ramps where traffic merges.

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