County planners endorse new road listing, discuss billboards

The Dyer County Regional Planning Commission endorsed reopening a portion of Mitchell Road and agreed to re-study the county's major road plan.

At one time, the county maintained Mitchell Road, which connected Upper Finley Road to Jackson Crossing. When the county road list was created in 1984, this Mitchell Road was not included. Mitchell Lane in the Middle City community was included.

Last month, landowners along the westernmost section of the old Mitchell road petitioned the county for re-listing. The Dyer County Commission's Transportation Committee agreed to restore about 500 feet of the roadway to the county's road list.

The planning commission also had to approve the request before it was forwarded to the full county commission.

The road will receive a new name when it is restored to the list of county-maintained roadways. It will be called Bird Lane.

In other business, the county planning commission reconsidered an amendment to allow billboards in forestry, agriculture and residential (FAR) zones. A proposed zoning amendment recommended last year would have allowed billboards, signs and other advertising in FAR zones as long as the signs met certain requirements and the Board of Zoning Appeals issued permits for the signs. The amendment was not approved by the county commission.

Last month, county Building Inspector Daniel Cobb said he had been asked again about the possibility of erecting a billboard.

Donny Bunton, a principal planner with the Local Planning Assistance Office, prepared a map showing the areas where billboards could be erected if the amendment were adopted. Billboards would be limited to arterial roads and cannot be within 1,000 feet of residential property.

Bunton identified the arterial roads, the homes on those roads and a 1,000-foot buffer around each home. Areas that would be open to new billboards would include sections of Interstate 155 and Highway 412; most of the Great River Road and Highway 104 west of Finley; portions of Highway 211 between Dyersburg and Newbern and south of Trimble; and Highway 51 south of Fowlkes.

Bunton speculated that the amendment would open more territory for billboards than the planning commission or the county commission liked. He offered two potential solutions.

First, he said, the county could reclassify arterial roads as major and minor arterials. Billboards could be limited to major arterials.

Second, the planning commission could create an overlay on the map and select areas where billboards would be considered appropriate. Bunton said this option is more complicated than the first.

The planning commission approved a motion to re-study the major road plan, dividing major and minor arterial roads and proceeding with the proposed billboard amendment.