Extinction isn’t in the cards for Haltom City brontosaurus

Here’s a dinosaur that doesn’t face annihilation, for now.

The huge brontosaurus mural on the east wall at Andrews News Stand on E. Belknap Street got a reprieve a few days ago after city officials had ordered it to be painted over.

“They said it was graffiti and I had to paint over it or I faced being fined every day it was up,” owner Andrew Sansom said Thursday.

Sansom, 58, admitted that his brontosaurus was peeling a little and there were some cracks, but the 11-year-old dinosaur wasn’t in terrible shape.

He paid $300 to have the 18-foot high beast painted on his business at 4016 E. Belknap St. Sansom said the artist used a drawing of a brontosaurus from his business cards.

“I held the ladder for the artist,” Sansom said.

But in July, Sansom received a letter from the city’s code enforcement department, saying he was in violation of an ordinance that requires property owners to remove graffiti.

The letter stated, “an owner of property commits an offense if the owner fails to remove graffiti from the owner’s property if the graffiti is visible from public or private property other than the property on which the graffiti exists.”

Sansom has operated Andrews News Stand since 1994, and had the brontosaurus painted in 2005.

“Soon after I bought the business, taggers would come by and mark up the outside walls with graffiti. That happened quite a few times,” Sansom said. “One day, a code enforcement officer said that I should paint a mural on the wall because many times taggers don’t mess with murals because they respect the art.”

Sansom uses the brontosaurus on his business cards, with the slogan “Andrews News Stand, Last of the Dinosaurs.” He claimed his newsstand is one of a few left in Tarrant County.

In early August, a city code enforcement officer revisited Andrews News Stand and told Sansom that he would be fined every day that the brontosaurus wasn’t painted over.

Meanwhile, fans of the brontosaurus started a petition to save the long-necked fellow from obliteration. And Sansom was ready to go to court.

Sansom noted that the brontosaurus is a city icon. At least three times a week, residents and children stop by the business to take photographs with the dinosaur.

“One time, I saw a woman with a white gown and veil, and the man was in a suit having their pictures made with him [the dinosaur],” Sansom said. “I’m sure those were wedding pictures.”

But just as quickly as he received notice of the violation, Sansom was notified Aug. 10 that the case was closed.

“The officer interpreted the mural to be graffiti. After learning the business owner took issue with the officer’s assessment the officer consulted with her management. It was determined our current code does not adequately address murals in its definition of graffiti,” Assistant City Manager Rex Phelps said in an email Thursday.

Phelps said that the city has an ordinance that does not allow painted business signs.

“Once again, a strict interpretation might argue that the brontosaurus painting is not an actual sign but simply a work of art on the side of a building,” Phelps said. “The brontosaurus really does not communicate an advertising element other than its presence. Therefore, city officials decided not to pursue the matter.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Extinction isn’t in the cards for Haltom City brontosaurus."