Sign for Jesus’ proposal denied by Chichester board
Potential for collision cited:
Planning board says sign would present a hazard for drivers on Route 4.
By DAN O’BRIEN
Union Leader Correspondent
CHICHESTER — If a “Sign for Jesus” goes up on Route 4, it will only be after the courts decide its fate.
That’s because the town’s planning board on Wednesday denied a hard-fought and publicized proposal to install the electronic, Bible verse-displaying sign.
Fab Cusson of Barnstead said he’s spent about $10,000 on the zoning process for the better part of the past year, only to have the majority of the planning board rule against him during a lengthy meeting.
“I’m surprised,” Cusson said. “We had all our T’s crossed and I’s dotted. We didn’t do anything underhandedly.”
After meeting with the board last month, Cusson was asked to address 12 engineering concerns. He met all of them except for two, which he was working on: getting a driveway permit and a sign permit from state officials.
However, that’s not why the planning board denied the application. In a vote of 4-3, members approved a motion for denial specifically because there was a “potential for collision” with motorists trying to read the sign.
“It causes a hazard,” planning board member Allen Mayville said.
Drivers “are talking on cell phones and drinking a cup of coffee, not paying attention. Then they’re minds get diverted by reading a message.”
Planning Board chairman Thomas Jameson, who voted in favor of the sign, said the four members who voted against the plan showed no evidence it would cause vehicle crashes.
“They’re assuming the sign will cause accidents,” Jameson said. “If they brought me some hard evidence … I would have stepped back.”
Cusson said he’s upset with the decision in part because the planning board members brought up old issues that the zoning board already decided on.
One of those issues was whether Signs For Jesus is a legitimate business. Signs for Jesus is now listed on the Secretary of State’s website as a nonprofit organization and Cusson said five “Godly men” sit on its board of directors.
“The zoning board determined he’s a business,” Jameson said. “We’ve never denied a sign for a business as far as I can remember.”
After initial planning board denial last spring, Cusson appealed Signs for Jesus to the zoning board, which found that an ordinance prohibiting electronic signs in that part of town was not valid because it was improperly posted before taking effect in 2005.
Because that ordinance became void, the planning board last month approved a nearly identical LED sign for Bobcat of New Hampshire, just down Route 4 from Cusson’s location.
“It’s on a curve on a highspeed section where there are people making left turns,” Jameson said.
“It’s higher up (on a hill),” Mayville said. “This guy is in the business of selling machinery. He needs a sign to operate.”
Cusson said he’s consulted with his attorney, Michael Tierney, but is not sure what action he’ll take. Tierney refused comment.
Cusson sparked national media attention when the New Hampshire Union Leader first reported on his proposed Chichester sign last summer. He hoped to install the first Sign for Jesus in a series of signs nationwide here, but it’s looking more like that’s going to happen in Arkansas.
“We want to do God’s work,” he said.
Cusson has gotten Bible verses to display on an electronic billboard that features other advertisements in Manchester’s Massabesic Circle.
The billboard at Massabesic Circle in Manchester scrolled messages as part of the Signs For Jesus campaign.
DAN O’BRIEN FILE
