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| 6/4/2007 10:24:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Goodbye and good riddance to the Green Monster billboard
If we take Western Rim Investors at their word, the then-owners of Mansions on the Green apartment complex thought they were within their rights, in October 2005, whenthey built the 106-foot billboard smack in the middle of a neighborhood.
District Judge Ken Anderson thought otherwise, ruling last month that Dallas-based Western Rim violated billboard height restrictions contained in the Texas Transportation Code.
Both Mansions on the Green and the Green Monster billboard are under new ownership. Last week, Houston-based CNC Investments agreed to take the billboard down completely - or, failing that - reduce it to a height of no more than 42-feet, 6-inches, while concurrently making a $10,000 contribution to Williamson County's Beck Preserve wildlife area.
Here in Williamson County we value personal property rights. But, as Pct. 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman points out, the Green Monster case involved conflicting rights and interests.
Western Rim thought it had the right to put up - and then keep up - a billboard neighborhood residents found obnoxious and unsafe. But even children know there can be a huge difference, between having "a right" and doing "what's right."
It is possible Western Rim did not anticipate the neighborhood uproar. More likely, they knew darn good and well people would not like the Green Monster, but thought that being a big corporation with a team of high-priced lawyers, they could outmuscle and outwait local concerns.
They were wrong.
The new owners, from CNC Investments, are to be congratulated for cooperating and working toward a solution.
Kudos are also in order for Williamson County's elected leaders. Had Birkman and County Attorney Jana Duty not involved themselves, this problem still would not be resolved.
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