"Sign Code Shakedown" by About Town | The Pilot: Southern Pines, NC

Sign Code Shakedown

Blog: About Town

May 4, 2010

If you Google “sign code shakedown,” you’ll get over 4,000 search results including http://www.scenic.org/billboards/industry/shakedown>

Here’s how the shakedown works according to the newsletter of the California State Bar http://www.calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/sections/public/public-law-journal_vol-27-No-1_winter-2004.pdf :

“The plaintiffs in these cases have followed the same script: negotiate leases with private property owners in a jurisdiction with outdated sign regulations; apply for multiple billboard permits, knowing that they will be denied due to noncompliance with the regulations; immediately sue the agency to invalidate the sign code on unrelated grounds based on precedent from other federal circuits and non-sign law cases; and, finally, attempt to convince the court to order issuance of permits for billboards in the otherwise prohibited or restricted locations, or negotiate a similar deal with the victim agency in exchange for a waiver of an attorney fees claim...”

A “sign code shakedown” appears to be exactly what our community is now facing. Aberdeen resident Andy Gibson, aided by notorious billboard industry attorney Adam Webb of Atlanta, GA, and local attorney Thomas Van Camp does not want to take “no” for an answer when the people of Southern Pines say “no” to more billboards.

They have followed the script exactly. They applied for permits for billboards knowing they would be turned down; the ordinance clearly prohibits billboards. Once turned down by the Planning Department and the Board of Adjustment, they filed suit in federal court. They wanted to erect three large electronic (giant TV screens) billboards in town and say they have obtained contracts with landowners. One is proposed at the strip center building where Pure Gold is. The property is owned by “SP Futures, LLC.” The other two would be on land near Outback Steakhouse owned by Aberdeen resident John Gessner.

We have a beautiful community. That beauty is directly connected with our livelihood and happiness. If I have anything to do with it, we will stand firm and make it clear to Mr. Gibson and other locals involved (Van Camp, Gessner, etc.) as well as their out of state billboard-specialist attorney that the Supreme Court has upheld our right to ban billboards and that we don’t want them here.

more to come...

Chris Smithson

elguapo9 3 years ago

If you've ever been to the state of Maine, you can see the effect of tight restrictions on billboards. They don't allow any. You can drive down the interstate and the view is completely unencumbered by advertising. It's beautiful.

boomer 3 years ago

The ride down the interstates can get so boring...not really any great sights there, that I look forward to seeing something to break the monotony.I don't mind billboards at all!

Woody 3 years ago

Looks like there is a conservation easment on the Gessner land. SP Futures is a Raleigh company. I am disappointed that Van Camp would take part in this extorsion attempt.

kgirl 3 years ago

Random thoughts here....I have seen those BIG electronic billboards, and they look awful. They are also very distracting... So are those cars with pink headlights...I'm not looking at the road, I am looking at those pink headlights.... Also annoying and distracting are the cars with loud boom boom music playing while they sit right on the rear end of my car and rattle my teeth while I wait at a stop light...

Anyway, back to the electronic billboards. If they are put up, they will just make our tourist attraction rich area look cheap, cluttered, and ugly. It was bad enough when road signed were put up in several palces in this county with BIG ugly poles that were a God awful color, did not blend with their surroundings at all, and no one else seemed to notice that it looked like these big ugly sewer pipes ejected themselves from under the roadway.

So what can we do about it? I don't live in every town in the county. Most of us only lives in one town. But I drive through and call a lot of towns my home, I consider Moore County to be mine, but I do not go to every town's meetings or petition against every town's problems.