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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Ind. Decisions - Billboard must meet city's setback order, says judge
Tri-State Media's Daily Clarion had an interesting story yesterday by Andrea Howe that began:
PRINCETON-A special judge's latest order in a six-year dispute between city officials and an Evansville-based billboard company couldn't have come soon enough for City Attorney Jerry Stilwell.Further on in the story:Stilwell's face graced one of the placards on the structure for six months, as a 60th birthday practical joke conceived by local attorney Dan Reeves.
Special Judge Robert Aylsworth ruled several weeks after Stilwell's six-month run on the structure expired that Princeton's Planning Commission 2003 requirement for the giant double-decker billboard to be moved at least 50 feet further south from its existing location just west of McDonald's Golden Arches along Ind. 64 East was proper.
"I'm pleased. The only thing that would have been better was the timing," Stilwell said Friday, after learning of the ruling Thursday.
Evansville Outdoor Advertising's attorney, Les Shively, has 30 days to file an appeal to prevent the relocation.
The dispute over the construction and location of the billboard began in late 1998, when Princeton Planning Commission members told Evansville Outdoor Advertising that a conditional use permit would be required to build the sign. The planning commission forwarded the matter to the Board of Zoning Appeals, recommending the BZA deny the request for a conditional use permit.
The BZA denied the application and the advertising company successfully sued in Gibson Superior Court. On Jan. 11, 2002, Special Judge James M. Redwine ordered the permits be issued. The city appealed the decision and the Indiana Court of Appeals issued an order in August 2002 that required the company to file for a permit and the city to determine appropriate setback.
Meanwhile, the advertising company proceeded with construction of the billboard.
The planning commission conducted a hearing in April 2003, where JMRG Inc., owner of the Princeton McDonald's restaurant just east of the sign, testified that the giant billboard's location blocked view of the restaurant's trademark "Golden Arches" from eastbound traffic.
"The fact that the erected billboard structure substantially interferes with the McDonald's signage that has been located in the same place since 1975 is a legitimate factor that may be considered and acted upon by the Plan Commission, for the protection of a local business of longstanding in the community and at the same location since 1975. Because the decision of the Plan Commission primarily benefits one adjacent landowner, this does not mean the members of the Plan Commission were unjustified in ordering that the billboard structure be relocated to the south of its current location," [Judge Aylsworth] wrote.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 12, 2005 08:21 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions