BIG Engineer's Objectivity Questioned

In a continuation of a , Bartkowski Investment Group (BIG) engineer Michael Tantala delivered three additional hours of testimony regarding his approval of five billboards proposed to go in Haverford Township, Thursday night at a meeting of the Haverford Township Zoning and Hearing Board.

Tantala has approved billboards to be put up in the area—five in Haverford Township, five in Springfield, seven in Marple Township and three in Newtown—on the grounds that, despite their proximity to heavily travelled roadways, they pose no public safety risk. Haverford attorney James Byrne attempted to call Tantala's objectivity into question.

Byrne established that Tantala's firm Tantala Associates LLC is a member of, and has "preferred supplier" status, in an organization called the United States Sign Council (USSC)—a group whose stated purpose is to advance the business interests of sign shop owners.

Tantala got hired to evaluate Haverford's proposed signs without admitting this affiliation, though he argued that he didn't realize he was a member until July 20, of this year when it was revealed during a previous hearing. Tantala also argued that while his firm is a member, he technically may not be.

Tantala has also written and presented a paper on the relationship between roadside billboards and traffic accidents, funded by the USSC, to the Transportation Research Board.

Tantala said that regardless of any association with the group, he is not in any way bound by its bylaws—to aid in the advancement of the interests of sign shop owners.

After a break, Byrne transitioned into questioning Tantala about the safety of the proposed billboards and that of large billboards in general. In response to Tantala's attorney's objection that this line of questioning was impertinent, Byrne argued that it was one component of a larger defense of the constitutionality of the township's ban on billboards.

"In a high-wind situation like Hurricane Irene, would the billboards you've approved put the public safety at risk?" Byrne asked, citing several municipalities that removed the sign faces of similar billboards in the run up to Irene.

Tantala said the signs he approved are designed to exceed winds like Irene's, and added that townships that removed sign faces did so as a precautionary measure, not a necessary one.

Byrne asked Tantala if in high-wind situations like those experienced in Irene it was possible for any billboard, anywhere, to detach from its post and cause damage.

Tantala, after several wholehearted objections from his counsel, Marc Kaplin, admitted that anything was possible.

The hearing will continue, and open for public comment, on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at an undetermined location.