DEERFIELD TWP. — Trustee Larry Backus recognizes the need for businesses to advertise on billboards, but he also wants to protect the visual landscape of the township.

        “We will work within the law to ensure that all areas of Deerfield Township are safeguarded against visual pollution,” Mr. Backus said.

        Trustees recently strengthened their zoning laws to include restrictions on outdoor advertising signs. As a result, billboards are permitted in all zoning districts except residential. The billboards also cannot exceed 40 feet in height and must be located at least 500 feet from another outdoor billboard.

        Township officials want to prevent corridors such as Montgomery Road from resembling the Fields Ertel Road corridor, which is rife with neon signs, billboards and banners, a tribute to the rapid growth unfolding in Deerfield Township.

        “I'm vehemently against them,” township resident Joe Mettey said. “I just don't feel that the residents and voters of Deerfield Township should be aggravated with all these high profile signs. ... Keep the rural atmosphere of this area.”

        The new law also calls for signs to be located a minimum of 300 feet from any educational institution, hospital, day care facility, public recreation area or place of worship.

        Billboards already in place are not affected by the change.

        Tim Hershner, Deerfield Township's Zoning and Planning director, said the proliferation of billboards is a problem across the country.

        “Communities and even state highway departments have struggled with that problem for decades,” Mr. Hershner said. “The bottom line is, that medium of advertising offers a tremendous payback.

        “What we're trying to do is keep from having all the visual clutter like what people perceive to be the Colerain or Beechmont Avenue stretches” in suburban Hamilton County.

        Most of the township's billboards were approved before 1997, when Deerfield Township took over zoning authority from Warren County.

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