Council Member Bear Heiser said the billboard would benefit the city by helping stimulate the local economy by promoting small businesses and Kyle-related activities.
“We need to start doing things to bring more money into the city,” Heiser said. “As new businesses continue to open up, if people who are passing through are made aware of these opportunities to spend their dollars in our city, that’s a win for us and the people of Kyle.”
The billboard, known as Project Lightbright, will be located near Kyle Chapman Motors.
The billboard is owned by Burkett Media, a growing billboard company based out of Austin. Burkett Media has over 100 billboards across the state of Texas, serving a variety of Texas markets including San Marcos, Boerne, Georgetown, Killeen, Spicewood, Temple, Wichita Falls and Copperas Cove. Burkett Media owner Beau Burkett said the company likes to focus on “high growth, suburban affluent areas.”
“Kyle really checks all the boxes,” Burkett said. “I’m excited just to work with Kyle. It’s something I’ve been working on the side since 2019 through different city managers, different council members, and for it to finally come to fruition, I’m just super excited.”
Burkett also noted that currently, businesses like Starbucks, EVO, P. Terry’s and soon Costco don’t have a way to advertise.
“There’s no billboard opportunity [at] either exit, and in the billboard business, you really want to be at the exit to tell people when to get off the road,” Burkett said. “And that was a lot of the main driver in selecting that site within Kyle.”
The city will get one out of the eight dedicated spaces, at no cost, on both sides of the sign to promote community events.
“It's a good way to get messaging out to the community for HR and hiring, and then also just events, like saying, ‘Hey, we've got the Christmas Tree Lighting coming up’ or 'We've got a parade coming up the Fourth of July,’ or any kind of civic or community event that that the city wants to promote,” Burkett said.
Burkett Media will lease out the remaining spots to local and regional businesses like homebuilders, insurance companies, car dealerships, hospitals, etc. The billboard will sit atop a brick or stone cladding pole to make the sign more “aesthetically pleasing.”
Burkett Media will be making a one-time $150,000 cash donation to the city, which Heiser noted will allow Kyle to improve residents quality of life while offsetting taxpayers’ burden.
“To me, that’s really important especially when you consider, every single meeting where we’re wanting to do more and more good things to improve quality of life for our residents. And those things cost money, whether it's a splash pad at Gregg-Clarke Park or a splash pad at Steeplechase Park, those things cost money, and every little bit that we can chip away at that total dollar figure to help offset the costs so that the taxpayers are burdened less by it, that's, to me, is a good thing,” Heiser said.
Burkett Media will also be making a one-time donation to the Kyle Arts Commission and a 15% discount to local businesses.
Kyle City Council will meet again at City Hall on Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
