Billboard Tycoon Wants to Sneak a Billboard in Your Backyard

This week, Thaddeus Bartkowski III, flanked by laywers and business partners in his entourage, presented an alternative to the three pending non-electronic billboards in our township.

As you'll see, I feel this is both a master stroke by Bartkowski and a very bad idea. According to Mr. Bartkowski, our township is likely to spend over $400K fighting him in our Zoning Board meetings.

Conveniently, he's here to help. He is offering to make a smaller, fully electronic billboard, and place it near the edge of our township on Route 3, across from the Subaru dealership.

His plan? Pay off our legal fees by purchasing an easement on the property for $400,000 for a period of at least 10 years. The township will get half of the money ($200K) right away, and then an additional $20K per year for 10 years.

No notice of any negotiation past the 10-year mark was discussed. This is a "gateway display," not a billboard. Operational from 6 a.m. to midnight, he helpfully includes a small analog clock at the top, as if it is an Oldsmobile dashboard from the 1970s. The topiary is quite amazing, and will cost him an initial pretty penny. We have no guarantees he won't let it fall into weeds and disrepair.

Newtown also conveniently gets a handy page it can load with useful information. However, this will only appear on one side, and in the standard rotation, so how effective it might be is questionable. And, of course, as with the large electronic billboard on the turnpike just before Fort Washington, we will be sure to get FBI updates, missing children warnings, weather events, and other things he will deem important to our citizens.

This settlement was brought to the Board of Supvervisors, not the Zoning Board which has been fighting this since 2009. Actual legal costs are unknown at this time.

While parties protestant to the case are to be informed of discussions in the Zoning Board, we are unclear how we will be notified if this comes to a vote with the commission. No instructions were given. Since now they might have to vote this up/down, it feels like our defeat is already sealed.

This may be your last chance to weigh in. Information on contacting the supervisory board can be found at http://www.newtowntownship.org/contactus.asp.

Ken Rimple

Newtown Square resident