Published: September 26, 2008 11:15 am      

Council says it won’t hear billboard issue again

Meeting deteriorates into arguments over restrictions, perception

What started out as just another committee meeting to discuss billboards quickly deteriorated into a heated argument between individuals on both sides of the issue.

Herb Price, whose son, Dave, owns Priceless Banners, said that his son had been vilified as the discussion had continued while members of the Logansport City Council, Plan Commission and Mayor Mike Fincher argued that the business owner had used good timing to take advantage of loopholes in the system.

But after the dust had settled, the city council made it clear that it did not want to revisit the issue.

“I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but I’m sick of hearing about billboards,” said council member Kerry Worthington, whose sentiments were echoed by several other council members during a Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting Thursday. “We’ve been talking about this for a year and a half. We’ve done everything we feel is fair to the businesses and fair to the residents.”

At the council’s meeting this month, it voted unanimously to extend the required setback of off-premise signage from 100 feet to 200 feet. A previous attempt by the plan commission to get such a measure through council had failed, and the council has now twice voted down a measure to require plans for all new billboard construction to be reviewed by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The plan commission, which brought the measures before the council, felt it had reason to revisit the issue after a two-level, four-paneled billboard was constructed near 18th Street and Erie Avenue. The billboard, owned by Priceless Banners, went up just ahead of the council’s vote to increase restrictions and is in direct view of several homes, including that of Garry Boller, who voiced his frustration at a council meeting this month.

Thursday’s meeting was an attempt to convince the council to consider the issue of a BZA appeals process for a third time.

Assistant plan director Arin Shaver made a brief presentation to the council committee to illustrate certain areas of the city that are spot zoned industrial and might still be susceptible to the construction of unwanted billboards.

“What we’re saying is that it’s generally OK to have billboards in industrial areas, but in some areas it’s not appropriate,” said Shaver. “... What we’re asking is that you give the BZA some authority to review that request to make sure it is appropriate.”

Worthington argued that with the newly passed restrictions a BZA review was unnecessary.

“Looking at this map, I can’t see any areas where you can put a billboard where it isn’t within 200 feet of a residence,” he said. “This is one that snuck in that wouldn’t be there if it had passed the first time.”

Although the measure was unequivocally denied, the discussion drew the ire of Herb Price, who was sitting in the back of the council chambers.

The elder Price took exception to comments made about his son at Thursday’s meeting and others by members of council and the plan commission.

“David went through all the proper channels,” he said, standing as he spoke. “... It’s being implied that he did something illegal.”

Herb Price’s comments sparked a barrage of retorts.

“The perception from the neighborhood is that he snuck it in,” said Mayor Mike Fincher, who was also in the audience. “We told him this was going to happen, and he snuck it in. That’s the perception of the neighborhood. I’ll tell you what, if I was Mr. Boller or I lived over on Jefferson Street, I’d be madder than a wet hen.”

As the discussion deteriorated, council members adjourned the meeting, but the heated exchange continued between Herb Price and Fincher.

Though Dave Price did not speak at the meeting, he has spoken out against the billboard restrictions at other meetings.

After the meeting, he said he wanted it known that he did not sneak in the billboard in question and had, in fact, been working on the project for nearly a year. He said he was pleased that council would not consider additional restrictions on billboards.

“We started this long before any of these new guidelines were on the table or were even being discussed,” he said. “I went through all the proper channels, followed all the rules and regulations, and built it according to the rules of the state and the county.”

Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com