GREENFIELD, Ind. — Commercial advertising signs on barns might be here to stay in one Indiana county that’s giving thought to loosening its restrictions on such displays.
The issue came to light when a Tyson Chicken sign on a Hancock County barn was hand-painted by Christine Barnes, who travels across the nation painting advertising displays on barns. A vast majority of Indiana counties have sign restrictions, but Barnes said she usually has no trouble getting an exemption to create her old-fashioned ads.
She’s contracted by companies that desire advertising on barns along major thoroughfares with high traffic counts, and the landowners are given a stipend for allowing their barns to be used for advertising the products or services. Several weeks after the paint dried last year on the Tyson Chicken sign, though, Hancock County officials gave notice it must be removed due to restrictions on what’s called "off-premises signs."
Hancock County Planning Director Mike Dale said off-premises signs advertise a product or service provided elsewhere. And usually, off-premises advertising is allowed only in commercial- and industrial-zoned areas beside highways and other major traffic arteries. The barn land in question is zoned for agriculture, which is prohibited under existing restrictions, to prevent signs from popping up all over the rural countryside.
Dale said the hand-painted Tyson Chicken barn advertisement is high-quality, but one fear is that loosening the restrictions to allow the sign to remain might open the door for other displays that could be an eyesore if they become too dense.
Over the past several months, though, a certain degree of support for advertising on barns has emerged in Hancock County – and until officials decide whether to relax the restrictions, they are not forcing Barnes to remove the sign. "We thought we’d explore it a little more. Maybe we can make some accommodations," said Dale.
He said one reason behind the possibility of loosening the restrictions is the benefit to farmers from the income advertising can bring, especially to growers struggling in a still-tough economy.
One source of concern is how to loosen the restrictions without making home and business owners with a desire to put up some type of signage feel that farmers are being extended special privileges. "How do you open the door for farmers without showing favoritism?" Dale asked.
Barnes said farmers whose property is used for commercial advertising also benefit from having their barn repainted once her displays, typically up for 3-6 months, are removed.
"I’m improving the property when I leave," said Barnes, who has painted advertising signs on barns for other companies such as Nissan, McDonald’s and Culver’s.
Barnes, of Hanover, Pa., does work primarily for corporations and is contacted by advertising agencies representing those companies that pinpoint certain high-traffic areas based on marketing studies, to have a sign posted. She then goes out and scouts the area for a barn she feels will be the best suited for the display.
She prefers barns with a certain degree of wear to achieve the old-fashioned look so familiar from hand-painted advertising signs of the past. She then works with officials in each county to obtain an exemption from local zoning restrictions to create her advertising signs.
"Very rarely do I have a problem," said Barnes.
Andy Dietrick, a spokesman for Indiana Farm Bureau in Indianapolis, which neighbors Hancock County, said opening the door wider for farmers to use their barns for off-site commercial advertising has, so far, not become an issue in the agricultural community. If it ever does, local governments and food producers should work together to make it possible for farmers to use their property for extra income if they so choose, he opined.
He said sign restrictions in each county are different, with some allowing heavy sign density along short stretches of heavily traveled highway. "This is a county-by-county kind of thing. You just can’t put them up anywhere," said Dietrick.
Placement of certain types of roadside signs are also governed by federal restrictions signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, to preserve the countryside along roads maintained with federal funds.
