Ballwin Puts Limits On Vehicle Advertising

Use it and move it.

That essentially sums up recent action taken by Ballwin's Board of Aldermen to clean up advertising clutter that city leaders felt was an intentional move to get around city sign code regulations.

Aldermen approved an ordinance to redefine what constitutes delivery and service vehicles, and where they can be parked in the C-1 Commercial Business District, which includes Manchester Road.

Read The Ordinance

Ward 1 Alderman James Terbrock said he didn't want Manchester Road to look like Overland, while Ward 4's Michael Boland pointed to regulations on the books in Ladue and Des Peres.

Ward 2's Shamed Dogan said he barely notices trucks like the one parked outside Boost Mobile, hadn't heard from residents about it and didn't want the city to be seen as "anti-business."

A Boost Mobile representative did not return a message seeking comment this week.

"What do we want to be?" Boland said, while adding that he thought Ballwin was business-friendly. "We want to be a destination."

Under the new ordinance, which passed by a 5-3 tally, those vehicles must be parked behind a main building or in a rear yard, or in a loading zone designated in a site development plan. The vehicles have to be owned or operated by the licensed business owner or operator and there can only be 2 vehicles per business.

Tell us what you think: do trucks that seem to function as de facto advertising annoy you at all?