Letters to the Editor: Area mayor says Proposition A tramples property rights

There is a measure on this November's ballot that concerns me, both as mayor of the city of Lebanon, and as a private citizen.

The measure is Proposition A and it would severely restrict the building, placement and maintenance of billboards along Missouri's highways. I am against Proposition A for several reasons.

First and foremost is my concern that this amounts to statewide zoning. My community is very rural.

The farmers in the Lebanon area, like farmers everywhere, often have to struggle from year to year to make ends meet and to keep their farms going. Any additional income that they can raise can be crucial.

If a farmer or any other landowner is fortunate enough to have land along an interstate or other major highway, renting parcels of that land for outdoor advertising is a very attractive option. The billboards take up relatively little space and require little upkeep by the farmer.

More than $10 million in rental fees are paid to Missouri landowners annually by outdoor advertising companies and by other businesses that erect and maintain the boards themselves.

If Proposition A passes and the billboards start to come down or if a farmer is told he can no longer rent his land for this purpose, how is he going to make up that lost income? The value of his land is lowered.

Also, if the government says that a person's land can't be used for billboards, what other possible restrictions might they put on it? It seems just plain wrong to me to tell people how they can use their own land.

I am concerned, too, about the effect that this measure could have on Missouri's tourism industry. Lebanon recently passed a hotel/motel tax to help us build a tourism program.

We already have a million visitors coming through our area each year to visit Bennett Spring State Park and the Lake of the Ozarks.

We want them to experience the friendliness of Lebanon and we're in the market for billboards to help us get that message out to travelers.

Billboards are the advertising medium that makes the most sense for a city like ours, located along I-44. They're affordable and they reach our potential customers where they are the most likely to respond in their cars, headed our way.

Billboards also will help us to compete with our neighbors up and down the interstate as travelers make their decisions.

My wife and I use billboards when we travel to help us decide where to stay overnight, where to eat and what attractions to visit.

We appreciate the information they provide and have enjoyed visiting places we would never have known about had it not been for highway advertising.

I certainly think that we should have some standards on billboards in terms of their number and size, but Proposition A goes too far.

In fact, the Missouri Legislature already has passed laws in 1998 and 1999 to give local governments more control and tighten regulations on outdoor advertising.

I think, too, that its proponents have not been totally honest about how much this measure could cost Missouri taxpayers, both to remove existing, nonconforming billboards, and in terms of lost revenue for Missouri businesses who rely on billboards.

Do we want to make up that $10 million in lost rent to property owners?

Do we want to see small Missouri businesses and communities adversely affected? I think not.

I urge you to look at this measure carefully and to vote no on Proposition A.

(Bud Allen is the mayor of Lebanon.)