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| 8/8/2007 11:32:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | 'Monster' billboard taken apart after taking criticism
MARCIAL GUAJARDO
Managing Editor
The Brushy Creek "Green Monster" has been toppled.
Crane operators Tuesday dismantled a double-sided green billboard in Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District dubbed "The Green Monster" by detractors for its size and color of its metal frame.
The billboard was erected nearly overnight in October 2005 near the south side of The Mansions on the Green, at 7711 O'Connor Drive in Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District.
It could be clearly seen for miles, jutting into the sky above trees and buildings in the area. The billboard, a few hundred yards away from the O'Connor intersection with RM 620, rises higher than the rooftops of the surrounding apartments.
Neighbors in Brushy Creek quickly voiced their displeasure, including those in Cat Hollow, the neighborhood that includes Mansions on the Green. Members of the Cat Hollow at Brushy Creek Owners Association said they felt the billboard violates association deed restrictions.
Meetings were organized, as was an opposition group, "Team Billboard," and an accompanying Web site, monsteronthegreen.com/. Team Billboard regularly protested the sign in front of the apartment complex.
Williamson County later filed suit against Western Rim Investors, then the owners of the apartment complex and billboard. The county alleged the two-sided billboard - standing more than 100 feet high - violated state signage law. Officials cited state transportation code that limits signage in rural areas from being more than 40-and-a-half feet tall.
In May, 277th District Judge Ken Anderson rendered a final judgment that required the lowering or removal of the billboard signs located at the Mansions on the Green apartment complex. In April, Judge Anderson agreed with the county in their lawsuit against Western Rim and CNC Investments - the new owner of the apartments and billboard - and found that the signs are in violation of section 394 of the Transportation Code.
Anderson urged the parties to get together to come to an agreement before the court would impose civil penalties for non-compliance. The judge, in the decision, noted CNC must lower the billboard to a height of no more than 42.5 feet or remove them completely.
CNC also faced making a $10,000 donation to the Williamson County Conservation Foundation on or before said date.
Saturday, Precinct 1 County Commissioner Lisa Birkman issued an email noting her disappointment with CNC over failure to yet take down or lower the billboard. In response to CNC's inaction, county Civil Litigation Chief Stephen Ackley filed a motion to enforce the final judgment.
CNC faces civil penalties of $2,000 a day, to be paid to the Texas State Highway Fund.
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