City and New Point agree on new billboard site

The city of Homewood and New Point Digital have agreed upon a potential new site for the controversial billboard that went up two weeks ago. The exact location is being kept secret until they confirm that the site meets all legal requirements, but local officials say they are moving as quickly as possible.

Several people with knowledge of the new site said that is more than 1,000 feet away from the closest home and was unlikely to cause the same kind of outcry that greeted the billboard at its present location at the interaction of Lakeshore Drive and Green Springs Highway.

"I know where the new site is,” said Scott Dean, who lives across the street from the billboard’s current location, and has been leading the fight to move the billboard. “And it’ll be an out of sight out of mind for the Homewood community, once they make the location public."

Meanwhile, the Jefferson County Commission is looking into new rules that would prevent a similar controversy in the future, by requiring signs to have at least 1,000 feet between them and residential areas, according to the citizens group that has been fighting the billboard. The current county rules require the sign to be 300 feet away from a residential area and the sign is located 300 feet and 2 inches away at its Lakeshore Drive location.