Lockett: Electronic billboards plan for Loop 303 ‘appalling’
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Letter submitted by: Mary Ann Lockett of Sun City West
I was alarmed when I read your article (“Surprise considers electronic billboard," Sun City West Independent, Aug. 4, 2021) regarding the “flipping” billboard Boulevard Media requested by their lobbyist, Rhett Cooney.
Such billboards were solidly disapproved in recent legislation in 2018, but I see “big business” is attempting another run that will blight our area. I’ll bet Rhett Cooney does not live near or see a billboard from his backyard.
I am not a resident of Surprise. However, I am a resident of Sun City West and I live on Rico Drive, one of the streets you mention in your article. Unfortunately, since this community is filled with winter visitors who go back north for the summer, many of my neighbors, and those in Corte Bella, will never know of this sign or the amendment change.
If not for your article I would not know of the change until it was too late to make a plea to stop any “monster” billboards in our backyards.
My backyard partially faces Corte Bella north and I would be directly impacted by the light pollution a lighted billboard would impose. I can only imagine what residents on Junipero Street in Corte Bella will say! One of the reasons I moved to Sun City West was to enjoy the peace, quiet and beauty of our desert and look to the skies at night to admire the moon and stars.
To learn that a brilliantly lit sign of 45 feet is being contemplated so close to my home is appalling. In my opinion, billboards cheapen an area and create a harsh environment.
I have no idea why the Surprise Planning and Zoning Commission approved this matter, but it is disheartening. I will contact the Surprise City Council before its Aug. 17 anticipated vote meeting with my plea to stop the sign. I will also contact our property owner’s association and the Recreation Centers of Sun City West board with my concern.
Thank you for the article. If you have any suggestions as to who else I could speak to regarding this matter, won’t you please let me know?
