Deal on billboard reached in Dexter

FILE: ALAN WARREN, THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

A billboard in front of Mill Creek Middle School in Dexter is scheduled to be moved away from the school's sidewalk as part of the settlement of a dispute between Dexter Village and Adams Outdoor Advertising.

Deal on billboard reached in Dexter

Issue settled; agency will move boards away from middle school sidewalk

BY CHONG W. PYEN

News Staff Reporter

Dexter Village officials have settled a dispute over a roadside billboard rather than risk costly litigation.

Last year, the Adams Outdoor Advertising Co. put the village on notice that it would take legal action over the village’s order to remove its three-facade billboard off Dexter-Ann Arbor Road in front of Mill Creek Middle School.

The village said the billboard was in the way of a new sidewalk being built for the safety of students.

The advertising company removed two of the three boards and asked the village to pay half of the $14,000 cost of moving the steel frames and billboards, but the village refused. The company then went to the Zoning Board of Appeals to get a setback variance from the village right-of-way, which was also denied.

The company, through its attorney James J. Walsh, notified the village that removal of the billboards was costly, possibly totaling more than $100,000 when considering the potential loss of revenue.

After nearly a year of negotiation, both sides reached agreement last month. The settlement calls for the billboard to be moved farther away from the sidewalk in front of the school. The village will receive $4,000 from the advertising company for use of the public right-of-way for the next 50 years. Another condition prohibits the billboards from displaying ads for alcohol, tobacco, gambling or adult entertainment.

“I guess both sides got what we wanted,” said Donna Eureste, village manager.

Ray James, government affairs and real estate manager for the advertising company with offices in Ann Arbor and Lansing, also welcomed the settlement.

“We want to be a good citizen,” he said."... We don’t like to go to court. Nobody wins when you go to court.”

Adams Advertising, with a home office in Atlanta, Ga., maintains almost 1,000 large and small billboards in Michigan, one of the largest such operators in the state, James said.

The Dexter billboard, 12 feet by 25 feet, is called a “poster” as compared to larger ones lining freeways.

At the core of the dispute was who owns the parcel where the advertising panels have stood for more than 50 years.

The company contended that it has for years leased the space from William and Rosalie Burns, whose home is up the hill just behind the billboard. When the couple bought the house in 1956, the billboard was already on their property, according to a memo from the company to the village.

But the village argued that the parcel is part of the village’s right-of-way. “We always thought we had this right-of-way when we built the sidewalk,” said Bradley L. Smith, village attorney.

Before coming up with the settlement, officials pored over documents spanning nearly a century. Some of the documents traced the ownership of the small piece of land back to 95 years ago.'Over years, the land has changed ownership, sometimes in pieces. In 1960, the State Highway Commission conveyed part of the land to the Washtenaw County Road Commission, which in 1985 turned it over to the village.

Under terms of settlement, effective March 1, the company will be allowed to erect up to two advertising panels, 10 feet above ground, and rebuild the sidewalk affected by the move.

The village will also get four weeks of free display promoting its annual Dexter Daze, an August downtown business fair.

Chong W. Pyen can be reached at cpyen@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6828.