A company on Monday apparently tried to sneak in the installation of a billboard east of the Round Barn in Arcadia, Okla., reported the Edmond Sun, and that made residents none too happy.
But after protests by residents and a visit by a police officer, work on the billboard was halted. And the town’s council probably will probably make sure it stays away at its next meeting.
The billboard site is about 25 yards east of the 1898 barn. The sign itself hasn’t been erected, but much of the framework is up.
“It’s horrible,” Simonton said. “For anybody who cares about this place it’s a heartbreaker.”
Simonton said tourists like to stand on the other side of Route 66 and take photos of the Round Barn, which is now obstructed by the sign skeleton. […]
Bensinger said it appears the company was trying to slip in and put the billboard up in one day.
“The Round Barn is kind of really important around here,” he said. “That would block a lot of the view. I feel like they tried to sneak it in.”
Sam Gillaspy, otherwise known as Mr. Sam, said he was just sick about the whole thing.
“I can’t believe why they would want to block the view and ruin the most famous stop on all of Route 66,” he said. “A lot of people come here from all over the world.”
One area resident said the property is zoned residential, which means the city would have to rezone it or pass a variance to allow the billboard. The next Arcadia town council meeting is Oct. 19.
UPDATE: This video from KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City shows how close the billboard would be. A bit more information:
It turns out the advertisement that is supposed to appear on the billboard will be for the Mazaheri Law Firm.
Katherine Mazaheri told us she has signs going up all over the place and had no idea this sign was causing such a stir. […]
“We’d like the opportunity to negotiate that little strip of ground and get the billboard removed because it breaks our hearts to see the approach to this historic sight marred by a giant billboard,” said Linda Simonton, Historical Society. […]
According to the county assessor’s website, that small slice of property is owned by Zoom Media LLC.
The Secretary of State’s website lists Fariborz Mazaheri as the registered agent for Zoom Media.
He is the father of the attorney whose ad was supposed to be on the sign.
The structure is quite massive. Obviously a lot of money went into it. A legit company would not risk that much money unless it had all the necessary permits and perceived all was okay to proceed. I would think the Oklahoma Dept of Transportation might be a place to check further since it sits close to the road. I know they’ve weighed in on other signage along 66 there in Arcadia.
Communities that don’t have sign ordinances need to develop them. The Oklahoma Sign Association makes their expertise and guidance available to communities who have existing ordinances and want to amend them, or need to develop them from scratch. For example, they’ve advised both Oklahoma City and Edmond, two communities with wildly varying sign philosophies.
Sign companies should not be considered the enemy – they are caught in the crossfire of the public and the companies who hire them to install the signs. They were hired to do a job and they did it. To my mind, to have it go up in one day simply means they were efficient, not sneaky.
Whoever owns the property obviously didn’t consider the impact of such a sign on “their neighbor” – or didn’t care. To not notify the Historical Society is inexcusable. Guess they only saw – pardon the pun – dollar signs, by leasing the ground to a sign company.
It will be interesting to see what the property owner, the sign company, and the contractor who installed the sign say, and what the current zoning status really is. Guess we’ll know more at the meeting on the 19th, 7 pm.
By the way, I’m not in favor of the sign being there. A cute baby retro-like, low to the ground sign would have been more in keeping with the area. However, no sign would be much better.