Fairway Installing Triangular Sign On Epps Bridge Parkway As Part of Settlement
Motorists approaching Epps Bridge Parkway on the Oconee Connector Extension soon will see a new, illuminated billboard as a result of a settlement with Fairway Outdoor Advertising that also calls for the elimination of three, much older signs on U.S. 78 at Ruth Jackson Road.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night approved the agreement with Fairway after a brief executive session with County Attorney Daniel Haygood.
The BOC had approved the agreement in general terms on Oct. 8 of last year, allowing Fairway to fill in the third side of a triangular billboard previously approved by the county, but the signs to be removed as part of that agreement only were identified by the action on Tuesday night.
The massive, triangular sign towering 60 feet above the ground already is under construction next to the building housing a Verizon store and Starbucks and is a companion to a similarly-sized sign a short distance away over the building in which PeachMac is located in the Markets at Epps Bridge.
Both signs are illuminated with LED lights and can change images quickly and repeatedly.
For more information on the signs, go to Oconee County Observations.
Jill Shoop
7:42 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
I am not against progress, nor against outdoor advertising, but I really hate these billboards. The light is so intense and they are so big and seem so out of place in OconeeCountyLand, it's like Times Square meets Green Acres. Thumbs down!
jim luke
9:17 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Jill
I agree. The courts, sometime step on other "Rights" in the name of free speech. BOC members had little choice but to accept this settlement, but you can be sure they did not like it.
Rebecca Billings
11:39 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
There's always a choice. What's the point of having a BOC if they can't say what we do and do not want here. I hate billboards. They are sky pollution, ugly, trashy, and a distraction to drivers. Watkinsville's losing that "small town" feel and I may have to move in a few years. Blah! But I do agree with Jill and Jim...I don't like it.
John B
11:46 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
If the sign were used for pertinent information such as Amber alerts, traffic communications and such I wouldn't be opposed. The problem is if this is the first where does it stop? Anyone who has driven to Myrtle Beach via HWY 501 knows what an eye sore these signs can be....not to mention the content of some of the signs.
Lee Becker
1:44 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Darryl Peck, president of PeachMac, has left a detailed comment on the full story on Oconee County Observations. Readers may be interested in looking at what Peck had to say. Go back to the original post above and click on Oconee County Observations. Then go to Comment at the bottom of the story.
Jill Shoop
7:19 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Lee, thanks for posting the link about the comments you attribute to Darryl Peck (it showed "Anonymous" on my screen.) Boy, am I glad I read that. Is he saying the same size/type signs are going up at Butler's Crossing? Are you kidding me? Can the tax payers of Oconee County file a class action suit of some kind???? Help me out here, people. Are we really going to let this happen???
Lee Becker
7:58 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Jill,
Fairway has permission, as a result of the settlement, to put up a sign in Butler's Crossing. It, too, can be digital. The details are here:
http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/2012/09/oconee-county-to-add-three-billboards.html
Darryl Peck has not sought to be anonymous. He wrote a letter to The Oconee Enterprise raising the same issues as he posted on my blog this morning.
Lee
Jill Shoop
8:38 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Lee, I was just, for clarity, saying that I couldn't see Darryl's name on the screen when I read the reply you attributed to him. It was an exceptional letter.