Billboards not part of the Northside’s vision

Residents are trying to shape the next phase of the Northside's development; billboards, such as those along Route 30 and adjacent to neighborhoods, are not part of the vision. (Meredith Metzler/Madison Commons)

Lesleigh Luttrell, a loyal member of the Northside community and co-chair of Sherman Neighborhood Association, always hated the billboards located off the interstate and beltline.

“Those billboards are not what we consider appropriate and welcoming to our part of town,” Luttrell said. 

Luttrell was pleased when the Dane County Board of Supervisors voted not to renew the billboards’ leases earlier this month.

The billboards, owned by Adams Outdoor Advertising, dominate a major portion of the Dane County Regional Airport property which is adjacent to Luttrell’s Northside neighborhood.

Northside residents, still dismayed by Oscar Mayer’s imminent departure, are eager to shape the next phase of their neighborhood. One small step was to get the billboards, which they felt didn’t match their vision, removed.

The billboards provide $41,000 in revenue and $65,000 of free advertising for the airport. But the Eken Neighborhood Association, Sherman Neighborhood Association and community representatives argued that the revenue is not enough to offset the negative visual environment that the billboards bring to the neighborhood.

“It comes down to listening to our constituents,” County Supervisor Paul Rusk said in a press release. “The people who live there, who have to look at those billboards every day, spoke loudly and clearly: They don’t want them there anymore. Thanks to the excellent leadership and management of County staff, the airport is on firm financial footing and this relatively small loss of revenue will not affect the County as a whole.”

When the billboards were put up in 1984, the Northside was Madison’s main industrial and manufacturing district. In recent years, the area has been transformed into a residential neighborhood with green spaces, parks and a golf course.

Five years ago, a local neighborhood association president expressed his unhappiness with the billboards to Rusk, but by then, the billboards had already been approved.

In December, when the Dane County Regional Airport informed Rusk that the billboards’ leases were once again up for renewal, Rusk saw this as a chance to do what he failed to do five years ago. 

“I used to drive past those billboards and think, I should have done something about it. But now the city has changed and I think people will be pretty happy once the billboards go,” Rusk said.

Luttrell believes removing the billboards will steer her neighborhood in the right direction. She said it is small steps that come together over time that transform communities in a positive way.

“Solving this old issue, one we’ve known to be a problem for a while, could be the gateway for a new active community,” Luttrell said. “Now that the billboards will hopefully be gone, this will open up options for our neighborhood.”