Minnetonka looks to boot 'nuisance' bus benches

The melted snow has laid bare the latest battleground in Minnetonka's crusade against signs: Bus benches.

Finding that most of the privately owned, ad-displaying benches in the city are no longer near bus stops and were buried in snow all winter, the city wants more than 100 of them removed by July 14.

"We're calling them mini billboards -- we have them everywhere," said Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou. "They are in such bad shape they really don't serve a public purpose. It became a nuisance clutter issue."

Minnetonka is keen on protecting the community's natural environment and strictly regulates signs. It bans new full-sized billboards and in 2007 negotiated the removal of 15 old ones.

The street-side benches are next.

The city recently notified bench companies of their responsibility to remove the benches, which bear advertising for real estate agents, banks, insurance companies, adoption agencies, service stations and Courage Center.

The city's order "just came out of the blue," said Scott Danielson, president of US Bench Corp. of Minneapolis, which owns 93 benches in Minnetonka and has had them there since 1961. The company has benches in 65 cities, including Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins St. Louis Park, Wayzata and Plymouth, and would like to keep them in Minnetonka, he said.

The company clears benches of snow but many are so close to the road that snowplows cover them when they clear streets, he said. "We go out there and we do shovel them. It's just that this year was terrible."

Minnetonka says most of the city's bus riders are served by park-and-ride lots. "Bus benches were primarily installed for advertising purposes and provide little or no service to transit riders," a staff report said.

The report found "the vast majority of bus benches are not at bus stops at all, or are at outbound stops where people only exit the bus and wouldn't need to sit down."

Most of the benches were installed without permission from the city, Hennepin County or the state to place them in the right-of-way next to roads and streets, the report said. "The signs on the benches are off-premise advertising, which is prohibited in Minnetonka."

Metro Transit is not objecting to the city's decision to remove the benches but "we like benches at bus stops," said Bob Gibbons, the agency's director of customer services. "We think it's a feature that transit customers appreciate." He noted that private benches are provided at no cost to taxpayers.

Once the benches are removed, the city will measure public reaction through complaints and through the city's annual residential survey, said Jacque Larson, spokeswoman for the city. If resident comments indicate some benches are needed, the city will install city-owned benches without advertising, she said.