Wed
Sep 3 2008
10:16 pm
Digital Billboard on Chapman Highway
By: jbr

Maybe I missed something but how did the digital billboard on Chapman Highway at Dishman's Curve not violate the city's billboard regulations?
Rachel's picture

It has to be outside the

Submitted by Rachel on Wed, 2008/09/03 - 10:21pm.

It has to be outside the city limits. Check KGIS.

Joe Hultquist's picture

It's in the county, not the city

Submitted by Joe Hultquist on Thu, 2008/09/04 - 12:01am.

Rachel's right. The City of Knoxville doesn't have jurisdiction.

Knox County doesn't have an ordinance banning them. Their Board of Zoning Appeals has ruled these things are legal, and their decisions cannot be appealed to the County Commission. If the city had annexed that property, it would be a different story, but that's not the case.

I hope, now that we have some reasonable people on Knox County Commission, that they will pass an ordinance banning these aesthetic and safety disasters (or at least a moratorium for now).

jbr's picture

Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals

Submitted by jbr on Thu, 2008/09/04 - 12:22am.

The Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals is comprised of nine members of the County Commission. One Commissioner from each of the nine Commission districts is selected by his or her colleagues to serve as a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The Board meets monthly to hear requests for variances of the Knox County zoning regulations.

Greg Lambert
Paul Pinkston, 9th District , Vice
Diane Jordan, 1st District
Mark Harmon, 2nd District
Ivan Harmon, 3rd District
William Daniels, 4th District
Mike Hammond, 5th District
Scott Moore, 7th District
Dave Wright, 8th District

The above from Knox County web site...

(link...)

If the wording is accompanying the list is correct then it would seem Jordan should not be on the BZA. I know we have discussed that before.

Lisa Starbuck's picture

Terrible Location

Submitted by Lisa Starbuck on Fri, 2008/09/05 - 11:05pm.

I am aginst these digital monsters anywhere in the city OR the county because they are so garish and attention-grabbing, but this is a particularly bad location -- right in a terrible curve on Chapman Highway, one of the most dangerous roads in Knox County anyway.

I understand that Lamar has applied for several new permits and is putting digital billboards up all over the county as fast as they can - I guess because they can read the handwriting on the wall and know they have to get them up before the outcry is too great.

We hope to keep them illegal in the city and revisit their use in the county very soon.

Rachel's picture

I'm hoping that the more

Submitted by Rachel on Sat, 2008/09/06 - 12:18am.

I'm hoping that the more city residents see these monstrosities out in the county, they more they will insist that the City stick to its guns and keep these things out of the City limits.

It's about the only lemonade I can see from the lemons.

Treehouse's picture

The uglification of Knox County

Submitted by Treehouse on Sat, 2008/09/06 - 11:19am.

I saw that Chapman Highway digital billboard and another (I forget where) and I was appalled. They are ugly. I go past the one in Solway every day and it seems that not very many companies want to advertise on them based on the fact that most days the picture is "patriotic" with men in uniforms and guns or insipid with quotations or aphorisms that insult me. We've got to stop these and although I don't advocate violence, if there were a monkey wrench available, that would be good too.

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