'Will lighten the community up': Tarentum billboard raised Friday morning

The sky in Tarentum is going to get a little brighter.

On Friday morning, an electronic billboard was raised on Fourth Avenue in Tarentum, next to the Tarentum Bridge. The two-sided billboard is about 90 feet tall, with its face about 14 feet high and 48 feet wide.

The billboard, now turned on and active with ads, was the subject of a yearslong legal battle between Tarentum and America First Enterprises, which did business as Oliver Outdoor. Tarentum officials in 2019 declined to give Oliver a permit for the sign, with the rationale being the land where the pole would be placed is zoned in a district where billboards are prohibited.

Oliver Outdoor appealed that decision, and an Allegheny County judge ruled Tarentum’s zoning hearing board needed to determine whether the borough’s zoning bans billboards. The judge sent the case back to the board for its reconsideration. In June 2020, the board determined the borough’s ordinance does not exclude billboards.

In May 2021, Oliver Outdoor again appealed that decision and the judge ruled in its favor, finding errors in Tarentum’s zoning ordinance.

Tarentum appealed that decision to state Commonwealth Court, which also ruled in Oliver Outdoor’s favor last August. The borough attempted to appeal the decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but those justices denied Tarentum’s petition in February.

At the time, borough officials said most residents were opposed to the billboard. They said there were concerns about safety issues on the bridge and the billboard being a driving distraction, as well as the billboard’s effect on the landscape and light pollution.

Tarentum officials said in June they were reworking the zoning ordinance to make it more specific to adapt to changing technology.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus driver Reggie Oakes of Pittsburgh was driving his route at 6 a.m. near Tarentum and noticed crews working to raise the billboard.

“As far as how they’re doing it, it’s amazing,” Oakes said. “But it looks like it’s time consuming, you’ve got to do a lot of electrical work on it and stuff like that. It’s a dangerous job.”

The billboard will be another sight along his daily route. He has worked for the transit authority since 2017, he said.

“It’s something that, you know, will lighten the community up,” Oakes said.

Allegheny Lumber employees Jordyn Tavarez and Tom Brunn, both of New Kensington, watched the billboard be raised Friday morning. They noted it went up pretty easily.

“It’s a massive undertaking, I’m pretty impressed by it,” Brunn said. “It seems like these guys are professional; they’ve done it before. They seem like they know exactly what they’re doing. I think it’s pretty cool.

“I may get sick of it here and there,” Tavarez said, “but I like it.”

Brunn said the billboard could be used to promote public awareness with Amber Alerts, severe weather updates or other information to benefit the community.

“That’s probably a good thing because that’d be a public service,” he said.

He said it also could benefit local businesses with its advertising.

“I come across (the Tarentum Bridge) every day,” Brunn said, “so I’ll be seeing that sign every morning and every night.”