Company wants to install 65-foot billboards
By: Stephanie Prokop
MANSFIELD The decision whether or not to allow advertising billboards along two roads in Hedding was unanimously tabled until a later date during Monday’s Planning Board meeting attended by more than 50 residents, many opposed to the proposition.
The decision was made after many residents approached the Planning Board at the meeting, asking it to look into specific laws that would regulate where the proposed 65-foot signs could be placed.
One resident, Correne Hay, asked the board if it was aware of the Highway Beautification Act, which she said included provisions for "moving the billboards off the highways so people could enjoy the scenery."
This particular statute influenced Planning Board member Myra Dickert’s decision to table discussion of the signs.
"I don’t think we’re making an informed decision without reading that statute," she said.
Catherine Potts, a resident, spoke up against the billboards during the second portion of public comment that board member Fred Clark reopened during the meeting.
"I wasn’t going to say anything," Ms. Potts began, "I live 1.25 miles from the Wendy’s (off of Route 206) and when I look out my back door I can see that sign."
Ms. Potts then went on to say that it doesn’t really matter where you live in the surrounding area of a huge, bright billboard, it is still very noticeable from a far distance.
The Cherry Hill-based Interstate Outdoor Advertising had said it hopes to install four 65-foot signs in the township: two in Hedding along I-295 and two on the NJ Turnpike’s Pennsylvania extension. However, the company has yet to receive approval from the township.
While the proposal for advertising billboards has a lot of the townspeople worried about maintaining the township’s rural character, other residents say they are interested in the tax incentives that the signs may have to offer.
One such resident, Cynthia Dengler, joked that she felt as though she was backing up against an ocean of opposition when she presented her point on supporting the ratable revenue the billboards may deliver.
"Mansfield Township can’t go on (much further) on a fixed income," she said.
Committee member Terri Tallon-Hammill questioned any real tax dollar difference that these signs have promised by comparing them to already existing ratable generated projects going on currently.
Ms. Tallon-Hammill compared the ratable sources of Mansfield Commons and Mansfield Storage (which generate approximately double the expected revenue of the proposed signs) and that these sources are "clean, yet I have not seen one cent of my taxes go down."
An Interstate Outdoor Advertising representative had said in August that the town would receive between $2,500 to $3,000 in taxes annually for each sign.
Bob Tallon, of Axe Factory Road, presented the Planning Board with a compromise, asking, "You guys don’t have all the facts."
Mr. Tallon then asked the board to ask if residents along I-295 and the NJ Turnpike’s Pennsylvania extension would be eligible to pay less in taxes, since the potential signs would then devalue their house.
Still, some residents urged the board to consult and remember the town’s Master Plan.
One such resident, Kurt Fenstermacher, quoted from the 1995 edition of the Master Plan of Mansfield, underlying main points that go against approving the decision to allow billboards.
"Would you like the billboard to tower over your house you worked your whole life to pay for?" he said.
Other residents said they are concerned about the environmental and safety issues of the signs.
Bob Harrison reminded the Planning Board members that a lot of trees would need to be removed and a lot of light would be given off by the lit signs.
Still, township attorneys reminded residents that this is "not the last bite of the apple," and that the Planning Board is strictly advisory to the Township Committee. Township Administrator Joseph Broski said Tuesday that a revised ordinance could be introduced at the Nov. 29 committee meeting but action probably would not be taken until next year.

