Click Here for More News

Posted March 11, 2004
 
Realtors Who Think They've Found a Cheap Way to Advertise are Breaking the Law When They Stake Claim on Public Highways.
 
Both drivers and state highway officials say they're fed up with a flurry of small signs that real estate and development companies place in the medians on U.S. 280, U.S. 31 and Interstate 65 in Shelby County.
 
Not only are these signs illegal and a nuisance, they are dangerous because they cause distractions, said Gary Ray, district engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation.
 
"No one has any permission to put their private advertising signs on the right of ways," Ray said. "Eighty percent of people putting those signs up know it's not permitted but see others doing it and do it anyway."
 
That's the case for Colonial Village at Inverness, an apartment complex near Brook Highland.
 
"We've just been following common practice with business and real estate companies on 280," said Linda Geiss, vice president of corporate communications for Colonial Properties Trust. "We typically put them out on Saturday and pick them up on Sunday or Monday."
 
Greystone resident Marion Gilmore has done all but call these businesses himself, demanding they stop placing the signs on major highways.
 
"As long as there's no penalty for them putting up the signs, why should they quit?" he said.
 
Ray said on past rainy days when highway projects are put on hold, he's had his maintenance crews collect the signs and throw them into a large pile at the Shelby County DOT's office in Calera. After 30 days, he said, if the companies didn't claim their signs, they were sent to the Shelby County Landfill.
 
While he'd like to enforce the law on a regular basis, Ray admitted his department doesn't have the manpower.
 
"Ask yourself how long it would take to collect each sign and call each person telling them they can't put these signs up," he said. "That's not a high priority. We have pot holes to fill and ditches to fix."
 
Ray said he has considered working a maintenance crew overtime to clean up the roads since so many signs are put up on weekends.
 
"The signs look horrible and I don't blame drivers for being upset about them," Ray said. "It's also dangerous. Anyone who stops a vehicle and gets out on I-65 is waiting for a hazard."
 
On a half-mile stretch of I-65 in Calera on Saturday, at least a dozen signs advertising new residential developments were on display, including Daventry, Nottingham and Savannah Point. On U.S. 280, regular displays include those for Mt Laurel, the Narrows and Chesser Plantation in Chelsea.
 
Mary Peters, receptionist at Mt Laurel, said the town usually puts up signs on U.S. 280 from Valleydale Road to Chelsea. She declined further comment.
 
Gilmore said developers need to be held accountable for the signs.
 
"All of Greystone has people who pick up the trash regularly all along Hugh Daniel Drive and try to keep it looking nice," he said. "Then you get out on 280 and it's just trashed with these signs."
 
Signs along our Meadow Brook neighborhood roads are a growing community issue. The Meadow Brook Homeowner Association has historically refused to adopt any process to support the neighborhood.