Tommy Gay and Neonics Sign and Neon recently sued the city of Heber Springs in federal court over the city’s most recent sign ordinance.
Gay reportedly filed paperwork with the planning and zoning commission for the billboards and before the request could be voted on, the city council put in a moratorium to stop any billboards from being built while the city worked on an updated sign ordinance. “Tommy sued us because he felt like he should be grandfathered in since he turned in his paperwork before the moratorium,” said Mayor Jackie McPherson. “Legal counsel with the Municipal League was consulted and they said the moratorium was okay.”
There isn’t an application process for the erection of billboards in the city. If there was an application process and an application had been submitted before the moratorium was in effect, then there wouldn’t have been a problem and the city would have had to allow the application to be processed. Since there isn’t an application process, a moratorium was allowed by the council.
“We were told we had a strong case, but if it actually went to court and a jury, they could say since paperwork was submitted before the moratorium, then that could suffice as an application and a trial could take up to 18 months and we would be responsible for attorney costs if we lost and it could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The council and I felt we didn’t need to risk it and settled.”
The original request for settlement was reportedly $25,000 in payment plus being allowed to put up four signs. The request was because each sign reportedly could bring in revenue of $600 a month and the period between the paperwork submission and the settlement hearing, that was how much money was lost. “Both sides agreed to a payment of $10,000 to offset his court costs and to two signs by his business on the bypass.
“We didn’t want billboards on the bypass and we felt confident we were on solid ground, but we have prevented more signs from going up, which would have been an eyesore. With the new ordinance we have also banned off-site signage.”
As to why the case was in federal court instead of locally, “I’m unsure why it was in a federal setting. They filed it there is all I know.”
McPherson was also named in a separate suit. “Tommy’s legal counsel said I had prevented the council from hearing their appeal. With the settlement, anything against me was dropped. They also promised not to sue regarding this in the future.”
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Tommy Gay and Neonics Sign and Neon recently sued the city of Heber Springs in federal court over the city’s most recent sign ordinance.
Gay reportedly filed paperwork with the planning and zoning commission for the billboards and before the request could be voted on, the city council put in a moratorium to stop any billboards from being built while the city worked on an updated sign ordinance. “Tommy sued us because he felt like he should be grandfathered in since he turned in his paperwork before the moratorium,” said Mayor Jackie McPherson. “Legal counsel with the Municipal League was consulted and they said the moratorium was okay.”
There isn’t an application process for the erection of billboards in the city. If there was an application process and an application had been submitted before the moratorium was in effect, then there wouldn’t have been a problem and the city would have had to allow the application to be processed. Since there isn’t an application process, a moratorium was allowed by the council.
“We were told we had a strong case, but if it actually went to court and a jury, they could say since paperwork was submitted before the moratorium, then that could suffice as an application and a trial could take up to 18 months and we would be responsible for attorney costs if we lost and it could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The council and I felt we didn’t need to risk it and settled.”
The original request for settlement was reportedly $25,000 in payment plus being allowed to put up four signs. The request was because each sign reportedly could bring in revenue of $600 a month and the period between the paperwork submission and the settlement hearing, that was how much money was lost. “Both sides agreed to a payment of $10,000 to offset his court costs and to two signs by his business on the bypass.
“We didn’t want billboards on the bypass and we felt confident we were on solid ground, but we have prevented more signs from going up, which would have been an eyesore. With the new ordinance we have also banned off-site signage.”
As to why the case was in federal court instead of locally, “I’m unsure why it was in a federal setting. They filed it there is all I know.”
McPherson was also named in a separate suit. “Tommy’s legal counsel said I had prevented the council from hearing their appeal. With the settlement, anything against me was dropped. They also promised not to sue regarding this in the future.”
