There it sits on the corner of High and Jefferson streets, a black hole in the Jackson skyline. The black hole is an electronic sign erected by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. The city of Jackson said the sign violated its ordinances and was a public nuisance and sued the agency and its contractor, Busby Outdoor, LLC. A Hinds County Chancellor agreed and declared the sign a public nuisance.
Jackson ordinances regulate signs. Jackson requires those wanting to display a sign must apply for a permit, submit a sign plan, and register the sign. The sign can not obstruct the vision of vehicle drivers. The location falls within the High Street Overlay District.
District regulations limit the height and appearance of "freestanding" signs on properties within the district. Signs can only display the name of the business, address, and/or the building tenants. A site plan review committee must approve such signs. However, the District zoning ordinance does not cover properties owned by the state.
Busby built the sign without obtaining a permit nor submitting a site or design plan to the city of Jackson. Thus the sign was built and operated without Jackson's permission.
Jackson sued Busby in Hinds County Chancery Court in July 2022, the day after construction was completed. The city filed an amended complaint in May 2023 that added MDAC as a defendant and asked the Court to bar either party from operating the sign.
The complaint asked the Chancellor to rule the sign was subject to the city's sign and zoning ordinances, declare the sign a public nuisance, and permanently prohibit the defendants from operating the sign.
Lamar Company, LLC and Kane Ditto later joined the suit as plaintiffs. However, Chancellor Tametrice Hodges-Linzey ruled they did not have standing and dismissed them from the suit.
Busby argued the city could not enforce its zoning ordinances on state property.
The Court ruled on January 26,2024 that Jackson had standing to sue the defendants. Judge Hodges-Linzey pondered the matter and ruled the city's sign ordinance did indeed apply to the sign as she held the defendants violated the sign ordinance. However, the Court also held the sign was exempt from the city and overlay district's zoning ordinance.
Judges Hodges-Linszey declared the sign to be a public nuisance:
“Circumstances that may sustain a holding that an interference with a public right is unreasonable include . . . conduct [] proscribed by a statute, ordinance or administrative regulation.” Id. “While it is generally acknowledged that the violation of a municipal ordinance does not constitute a public nuisance, the continuing violation of a valid ordinance may constitute a nuisance.”... The defendants are in violation of the City’s Sign Ordinance and has been since the erection of the sign. Further, “reasonable zoning restrictions aimed at public safety and the elimination of public nuisances may be enforced.”...... The Sign projects “over 240 square feet of illuminated advertisements, twenty-four (24) hours a day” at a busy intersection in continuous violation of the City’s Sign Ordinance, Second Am. Compl. 2, which was enacted to protect public safety, see Sign Ordinance § 102-27(3). Therefore, this Court finds that the Sign constitutes a public nuisance.
44 comments:
Just the other day I was thinking if it weren’t for that dang sign, High St would be the most picturesque street in MS
Seriously?! Of all of the many, many, eyesores that plague the City of Jackson, the City father want to pick on the sign for the fairgrounds and farmer's market? Are they just trying to play tit-for-tat with the State?
There's a certain degree of supreme irony when a court finds that a sign in Jackson constitutes a public nuisance. This right here is very ponderable.
"Motion to compel, yo honorary. The defense herefore, wherefore and thereby demands that the court round up the right honorable Algonquin J. Calhoun to address this matter of legendary consequence and street justice."
Of course, this was filed during the LaDumbass administration.
That sign is as tacky as Andy Gipson, so I guess it's about right.
Last time I decided to risk my life with a drive through downtown at night, the strip clubs had similar LED signage. Absolutely blinding at night. But, I guess they got the proper permits?
Public nuisance? Lol. The biggest public nuisance in Jackson was the former mayor. This was just Chokwe taking jabs at the Ag commissioner.
Not to mention, MDAC is not subject to Jackson ordinances.
I decided I would investigate this eyesore myself. So I left my gated neighborhood in Madison and drove into Jackson to look. I saw homeless people pandering for money, a naked woman walking on the street, I took two bullets into the rear fender of my car while driving through a shootout, I saw two fights between middle school kids who were skipping school, and I tore up my new car hitting potholes before I arrived at High Street. I then viewed the sign and agreed it was an eyesore. After getting my wallet and phone stolen at gunpoint by a mugger while viewing said sign, I went to the nearest business to call 911. The business was closed because there was a water outage. So I borrowed the phone of a local homeless man who was sleeping in the gutter in a steady flow of raw sewage running down the street. I called 911 and they didn't answer. But I 100% agree that the sign is a major problem.
Red herring on the city's part, along with projection. "Look, there's a bird." It's a sign of the times.
I agree, let’s get rid of everything in Jackson that looks like a public nuisance.
I wish the city took the same zeal to election signage....or mattress sale signage...or cell phones, taxes signage...
This is not racially or politically motivated in the least...
Cowboy Andy‘s going to be mad if he doesn’t get his cut from the ad money. They didn’t even file a building permit. We don’t need those stinking permit. We got cowboy Andy.
They should find a venue outside Jackson for all their events and activities. Let Brandon, Clinton, Madison or some other place get the sales tax revenue...and let Jackson be happy they cut off their nose to spite their face.
That should eliminate about 66% of the city.
If Horhn can withdraw this, me thinks he will. Such a BS "look at me taking on the state" motion from the Lumumba administration. When he is put in cuffs, I would run his mugshot on there every single day.
"Busby donated a $462,000 digital LED outdoor sign to MDAC"
...sounds more like:
"MDAC donated the real estate footprint to Busby, who paid $462,000 to build the sign."
Busby presumably generates revenue from advertising on the sign, so this agreement reeks of good ol' boy cologne. Was there another donation--to a campaign account--to help make this location work?
put it in madison
They will have the copper stripped out of it in a month…
New mayor will make this go away unless he is totally impotent. Good chance to make friends with state officials.
City took down a bunch of garish election signs in right of ways on Old Canton Road and Ridgewood a couple of days ago.
I hope Mississippi author, Michael Farris Smith, includes this in his next post-apocalyptic/paranormal novel. I can already imagine the “fictional Sheriff” and his Goon Squad characters forcing a little orphan girl with psychic or healing powers to work miracles on the Sheriff’s Mama’s Prisoner Chicken farm. Michael Farris Smith - Lay Your Armor Down
The whole fuss does sound dumb. However, if an entity has a rule but fails to enforce it, then arguably the rule's dead. Thus, the City has to push to enforce it's ordinance so that it could stop something even uglier from being built. This is how you get HOA's policing everything. If you fail to enforce a rule, then arguably the rule is gone.
I genuinely believe that the fairgrounds deserves "LED" signage to advertise and promote events at the fairgrounds, but also, from the standpoint of having a proper city streetscape (I know there is alot to say about Jackson and proper streetscape), it makes no sense for that sign to exist here. It is offensive to be w/in eyeshot of the type of office space that exist there, and frankly, proper placement and size would have been on the fairgrounds closer to I-55, and exponentially bigger........I think Comm. Gibson partly did this to thumb his nose at the city, and the city deserved it, and the city responded out of spite......which I think the city a bit of a hypocrite when it's obvious that building inspectors don't do their job in the past, and proper land use planning did not exist in the mind of the previous administration......but in saying that, the sign needs to be removed and do something that actually makes sense, and hopefully the city will get it's act together on land use planning and building inspectors. I actually think the city is right.....
Um, do the fairgrounds have an electronic sign at the main entrance?
11:10 with the win!
Would Mary allow this sign in Madison?
11:35 here.
That comment was supposed to be on the Cleary grenade post
Chowke didn't get a kickback from the contractor, which led to this suit.
Before we assume he did not try...What are the odds that the permit office would not pick up the phone or staff the desk?
11:10 AM You won the internet today. Well played!
Mattress sale signs hell...how about the mattresses on the sides of the roads?
I wish that strip club sign on 220 had LEDs. That would be awesome.
Busby did the same thing (digital sign with no permitting) with JSU at the eCenter on I-20. Leonard Busby died in 2023.
The Sr. in Sheldon Alston's name in bold font for those of us who like to sit on the sidelines and watch the world burn.
Well done.
This is so dang perfect! Great job.
For all the 11:10's a winner folks - how did the dude drive from his gated Madison residence to turn on High Street and hit all those Jackson potholes? Must be driving down old 51 rather that the Interstate (MDOT road, not Jxn) that most common folks would use. And, BTW, his complaints about getting shot, etc ain't going to be happening on that half mile stretch of Jackson roads he traveled (High Street) much less any of those other complaints.
But just like all the Madison brick and stucco lovers, the dude doesn't recognize that Jackson actually has two different sections - with totally different conditions. The one he drove into to check out this black hole, and the other that is about three or four miles further west. Lumping the entire acreage into one cesspool isn't worth giving a "winner of the day" award.
Of course its the people who live in the burbs who criticize Jackson whenever it does try to do something to clean up for beautify something. They damn sure wouldn't allow a sign like this in their cities.
Out here in the burbs, your project would have been shut down during construction if you didn't have a permit or site plan in place. This location damn near within eyesight of city hall and they wait until after it is constructed to file a lawsuit, not ride by and shut them down in the middle of construction to get a permit like most functioning municipalities. In the city of Brandon, you can't build a shop in your back yard without one of those nosey f'ers coming by to shut you down. Much less a billboard on a major thorofare.
How long before it becomes riddled with bullet holes? Or until the copper is stolen?
All hat, no cattle.
"They damn sure wouldn't allow a sign like this in their cities."
Agreed. To me it looks like this company went through the backdoor of a state agency to run roughshod over the city's laws and construct a massively-garish advertising space.
Most of the code enforcement losers had no-show jobs.
Satire, embrace it, Mr. Thin Skin.
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