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A Monumental Dispute

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 15, 2008

TAMPA - Whether it's art or junk, aluminum-plated trailers partially buried off Interstate 4 near McIntosh Road are inappropriate in a pasture, the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement Board ruled Friday.

The board's 6-0 vote gives recreational vehicle dealer Frank Bates 30 days to remove his "Airstream Ranch" to avoid a $100 daily fine.

Bates later said he will leave the trailers in place while he researches rezoning the 6 acres from agricultural to commercial to allow the trailers to remain.

The owner of Bates RV in Dover came to the hearing with an attorney, dozens of supporters wearing "Save Airstream Ranch" T-shirts and three expert witnesses who testified his Airstream Ranch is art.

Larry Thompson, president of the Ringling College of Art and Design, said the project featuring eight Airstream trailers leaning at identical acute angles was inspired by Cadillac Ranch. Created in 1974 along Interstate 40 in Amarillo, Texas, it features 10 Cadillacs planted nose-down to highlight their trademark fins.

"In my expert opinion, this constitutes a piece of art," Thompson said of Airstream Ranch.

Wallace Wilson, a University of South Florida College of Visual and Performing Arts professor, said Airstream Ranch symbolizes the nomadic nature of Florida's early tourists, many of whom traveled by trailer.

Art Keeble, director of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, called it "a work of art." He predicted Airstream Ranch will become a famous roadside attraction.

Several who live near the project south of I-4 said that's what they fear.

"This has been a very dirty deed" perpetrated upon the county, Castlewood Road resident Michelle O'Connor told the board, saying "the cheap roadside attraction" brings unwanted traffic down her "quiet country street," including vandals who painted obscene graffiti on the trailers.

"Frank Bates does not live here, and we do," she said. "Why put them in our front yard?"

Another neighbor, Brian Connell, said motorists stop by at all hours.

"The safety of our road is at stake," he said, citing a fence and trash cans damaged by inattentive drivers.

Motorists stopping on the I-4 shoulder west of McIntosh Road to photograph the trailers constitute additional hazards, he said.

Saying "I'm not totally against it," resident Larry Borneisen suggested steps to preserve the neighborhood's "peace and serenity."

"If this is going to stand, we'd like Mr. Bates to be a good neighbor," Borneisen said after the meeting, suggesting a wall and landscaping to buffer the project. "I see the back end of that display every day."

Linda Pearson-Cox, the board member who made the motion finding Bates in violation, told him, "If you truly believe this is art and you want to see this displayed ... I think you have alternatives available to you," including rezoning. "If you want this to be a tourist attraction, that's your decision."

According to the county, the trailers installed Jan. 4 constitute four violations, including improper use of agricultural land and illegal off-site advertising for Bates' nearby RV dealership.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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