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| Billboard Plan in Abingdon Met With Resistance |
The Abingdon City Council is directing its attorney to draft an ordinance that would prevent a business in town from allowing a billboard to be placed on its property.
Abingdon Mayor Roger Stegall told the aldermen at Monday night's meeting that the city recently received a letter that said a sign company from Springfield has applied for a permit through the state to erect a billboard on property owned Bradshaw's TV and Appliance.
Officials say it would be an off-premises sign that would not advertise the local business, but rather some other business that likely has no connection to Abingdon, and rent or a fee would be paid to Bradshaw's in exchange for allowing the billboard to be placed on the property.
Stegall, who is opposed to the billboard, says this is something the city hasn't dealt with before.
"The billboard would be 12 feet high, 24 feet wide, the bottom of it would be 20 feet in the air and it would be on Bradshaw's propoerty," Stegall said. "We apparently do not have any ordinances governing signage."
City Attorney Jack Ball confirmed the city does not have an ordinance that regulates signage. He told the council since there is no sign on the property now, there are at least two options. One is to adopt an ordinance with restrictions that would give the city control over certain kinds of signs, or prohibit off-premises billboards altogether. Either way, Ball recommended that the city council move quickly on the issue.
The five aldermen at the meeting agreed that they don't want the billboard in the city, and they directed Ball to put together an ordinance that would prohibit it. A vote on the issue could happen during a special meeting to be held before the city council's next regularly scheduled meeting on November 16th. |
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| 11 03 09 by Newsroom |
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