Mountain Home City Council approves new billboard, yard sign ordinances

The Mountain Home City Council approved new billboard and yard sign ordinances Thursday night. It was the third readings for each ordinance after both underwent changes from their first and second readings last month. They also heard an update from the North Central Arkansas Economic Alliance on how their investment is being spent.
The billboard ordinance was updated from the second reading to say wall murals are defined as a display, with or without lettering, painted on an exterior wall. Such displays are exempted from sign regulations, assuming the display does not meet the definition of an off-site sign. Painted wall displays are not considered wall signs and a permit is not required for a painted wall display.

The yard sign ordinance changes how many days signs and banners may be displayed and where. Commercial yard signs will now be allowed in residential areas where they were not allowed before.

Both commercial yard signs and banners can be displayed for 14 days prior to events lasting less than seven days, and for 21 days for events lasting longer than seven days. There is a limit of two yard signs displayed around an intersection. The council passed the ordinance but removed the wording that limited the number of banners to four.

Both the billboard and yard signs ordinances passed unanimously and will go into effect in 30 days.

The Mountain Home City Council also heard an update from Bentley Wallace, the ASU Mountain Home Chancellor, who was representing the North Central Arkansas Economic Alliance to give the council a quarterly update on how their $70,000 investment from last year and this year is being spent.

Wallace says they used $17,000 to help with the property preparation where the new Aldi store is being built. He says they anticipate the store will bring about 100 jobs to the area and $300,000 in tax revenue annually.

Wallace says the alliance also uses funds to track consumer choices using phone analytics from Mountain Home residents to see where they go and how they spend their money both locally and when they go out of town. Wallace says for the year from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, 2,500 Mountain Home residents visited the Aldi store in West Plains 5,000 times. In the same time frame, 5,000 Mountain Home residents went to Harrison and made 12,000 visits to that Aldi store. He says if each person spent $60 per trip, that was $30,000 in lost tax revenue. So the $17,000 they spent to help lure the store to come to Mountain Home will be recouped in less than one year.

Wallace says they also have a grant program available for Mountain Home businesses called “Revive and Thrive” that will help small businesses improve the facades on the front of their building. The grant will be as large as $2,000 but the business will have to spend the same amount. Wallace says it’s a way to help small businesses in the city improve their look and attract more customers. Applications are available on the Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce’s FaceBook page. The alliance has $10,000 set aside for the project.

In other business, Mayor Hillrey Adams told the council Russell Tucker is resigning from the Advertising and Promotion commission because he has moved outside of the city limits. Tucker was appointed to an at large position by the mayor, but state statute says when a member resigns, the commission will have to nominate a new member and the council will then voted on that person. That vote is expected to happen at the council’s next meeting Aug. 17.

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