Groups aim to get billboards removed

Some say signs have ‘blighting influence’

With its faded lettering and tattered material dangling in the breeze, the billboard looking down on Carnes Elementary School sends a dubious message.

The billboard at Ayers and J.J. Williams near the Medical District is among many in Memphis that were erected before current zoning regulations for outdoor advertising took effect 13 years ago. Although it was allowed to remain as a “nonconforming” sign, it’s empty on one side while the other has carried the same image for several years.

“It’s in terrible condition..,” said Mary L. Baker, planning and neighborhood and community development specialist with Neighborhood Preservation Inc. “It has a blighting influence on the neighborhood.”

The billboard is one of four targeted in removal petitions filed on behalf of two local citizens and Memphis Bioworks Foundation. The groups say three of the signs, all in the Medical District area, should be taken down because they were issued permits improperly, owing to the fact they are situated in or near residential areas. In the case of the sign near Carnes Elementary, the petitioners also cite the long-running absence of a message on one side as proof that it violates the conditions under which old nonconforming structures were grandfathered.

The fourth structure, near Tillman and Walnut Grove, should be removed because it was improperly converted to a digital message board, the petitioners say.

All four cases initially went to Environmental Court. In two of them, Judge Larry Potter ruled he lacked jurisdic-