Business files lawsuit to try to keep electronic sign up in Murfreesboro

Wednesday, 09/05/07

MURFREESBORO — The owner of a digital billboard on Old Fort Parkway is suing to keep the sign flashing.
Lamar Advertising of Tennessee filed suit Aug. 22 in Rutherford County Chancery Court, naming the city of Murfreesboro and the Board of Zoning Appeals as defendants for trying to remove the company's electronic billboard at 1804 Old Fort Parkway near the DoubleTree Hotel and Starbucks.

The Murfreesboro Building and Codes Department revoked a permit for the sign in March, shortly after it was put up, saying it violates the city's moratorium on electronic messaging signs and a long-standing law that prohibits such signs for commercial purposes.
In the lawsuit, Lamar argues that the city's revocation of the permit and the Board of Zoning Appeals' denial of an appeal were "arbitrary, capricious and illegal."
Murfreesboro spokesman Chris Shofner said city officials do not comment on pending litigation.
No court date has been set; the city has not answered the claims made in the suit.
The suit says other digital signs were allowed to stay up, making it unfair to require Lamar to take its sign down.
In May, the appeals board granted an appeal by Affordable Signs regarding its sign at Exxon On the Run at 2464 New Salem Highway, which had been cited for a similar violation. That sign was allowed to remain because of a loophole in the city ordinance, which defined electronic messaging signs as those used for "non-commercial" purposes.
The suit claims:
• The same loophole that applied to Exxon On the Run should apply to the Lamar sign.
• The Lamar sign is not a "flashing sign" as some board members had suggested because its pictures stay static for eight seconds.
• The sign had a valid permit because it was inspected and approved by a city sign inspector after its erection. Lamar was issued the permit in November.
• No public hearing was allowed at Lamar's appeal.
Mike O'Conner, who drives by the sign almost every day, said he thinks the city made the right decision.
Kate Hollow, a recent MTSU graduate, said she doesn't see what the problem with the sign is.
"So it's a big screen. It's hardly the biggest distraction on the road," she said.

Source: Gannett Tennessee By TURNER HUTCHENS