Some Jacksonville City Council members are saying they won’t support legislation to allow RaceTrac and RaceWay gas stations to keep three large billboards that violate city law.
The gas stations, owned by RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc. got special approval for the giant gas-price ads about two decades ago after paying the city somewhere around a quarter-million dollars, but that agreement is set to expire March 1.
The gas station signs on Cassat Avenue and Normandy and University boulevards are 800 square feet, that’s about two-and-a-half times what city law allows for “onsite signs.” The normal limit is 300 square feet.
A RaceTrac lawyer met with several city council members to discuss the signage Tuesday.
Councilman John Crescimbeni, who was at the meeting, said Council approved sign requirements including height, face size and quantity limitations in 1987. This came after the city commissioned a “visual pollution study.”
“But [the city] gave everybody five years to come into compliance,” Crescimbeni said.
RaceTrac instead struck a settlement agreement with the city in 1999 to keep up five out-of-compliance signs, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep them up until March 2018. City lawyers couldn't confirm the exact dollar amount paid as there were two payment options available to RaceTrac.
Related: 1999 Settlement Agreement
Now RaceTrac wants extensions for three sings — five years for the University Boulevard location and 10 years for the Cassat Avenue and Normandy Boulevard locations. Crescimbeni said taking money for the extensions would be unethical.
“It’s rewarding bad behavior and the folks that behaved well get nothing,” Crescimbeni said.
RaceTrac attorney Brenna Durden said the company is willing to negotiate payment for extensions because it plans to remodel the gas stations in the near future, including putting up in-compliance signs.
“[The signs are] digital, look very nice,” she said. “They would really like to do that when they have the intent to come in and remodel the whole site. They come in and completely revamp whole site.”
The council members with the three signs in their districts, Doyle Carter, Garrett Dennis and Lori Boyer, also attended the meeting, none saying they’d be interested in sponsoring legislation for RaceTrac.
“It’s time to kind of come into compliance and be like everybody else,” Boyer said.
One concern council members had — they said a RaceTrac on Atlantic Boulevard, which was allowed to keep up an oversized sign, closed down, but didn’t remove the billboard.
“It’s one thing if it’s advertising and promoting something,” Boyer said. “It’s another thing if it’s being just left to fall apart in an abandoned location.”
Councilman Garrett Dennis said he worries the RaceTrac in his district on Cassat Avenue could close, but keep up an out-of-compliance billboard until the end of its decade-long extension.
“I can’t sponsor it,” he said. “I’m concerned about potential blight.”
Durden said RaceTrac fully intends to remodel the sites.
However, council members suggested the company spend the money it would have used on an extension on replacing their signage now.
Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at@lindskilbride.
