‘We have to do something.’ Columbus restaurant fights to be seen as trees block sign
When Jose and Julia Altamirano opened Vallarta Mexican Restaurant in a Columbus shopping center at the intersection of Victory Drive and Fort Benning Road in 1996, the nearby magnolia trees were seedlings
Altamirano named the restaurant after Puerto Vallarta, a Mexican resort town known for its beaches.
Back then, the restaurant’s sign was bigger. Drivers easily could see the restaurant and the shopping center.
The restaurant had lines out the door, Altamirano’s son, Jose Altamirano Jr., told the Ledger-Enquirer.
But circumstance became challenging amid the Great Recession in 2008, Altamirano Jr. said.
“These trees, they grew drastically,” he said. “And we started to realize that it was impeding on the sign.”
This realization became an ongoing issue that Jose Altamirano Jr. has been working to bring attention to in an effort to get city officials to help the restaurant find a solution to its visibility problems.
Past problems, previous citation
In 2008, Altamirona complained to the city that the trees completely blocked off the restaurant from Victory Drive. Not only had the magnolia trees grown tall, Altamirona Jr. said, but they also were full of brush.
“There was nothing but thorns there,” he said.
When city officials visited the area, they they told the restaurant owners that nothing could be done about the tops of the trees, Altamirona Jr said. In response, Altamirona, Altamirona Jr. and a couple of the restaurant’s employees climbed up to trim the trees themselves, Altamirona Jr. said.
“We trimmed the top just so you could see the (sign),” he said.
The magnolia trees are on the city’s right-of-way, Columbus Public Works director Drale Short told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email, and there are rules about what can and cannot be done with city trees.
The Unified Development Ordinance and the American National Standards Institute A300 Tree Care Maintenance Guide are specific on the maintenance of trees, Short said.
Citations can and will be written if people trim trees without permission, she said.
When the city discovered Altamirona had trimmed the trees, Altamirona Jr. said, he was sent a citation and a summons to appear in Columbus Recorder’s Court. He appeared in court, where he was warned not to touch the trees again.
Altamirona Jr. first worked for Vallarta around 2015, while he was in high school. He took the initiative to call about the brush around the trees.
His efforts helped a bit. The city cleared some of the brush to make the restaurant more visible along Fort Benning Road.
However, nothing was done about the tops of the magnolia trees blocking the sign, Altamirona Jr. said.
Renewed efforts in 2025
Altamirona Jr., a U.S. Army veteran and National Guard member, began working for his parents’ restaurant again after finishing serving in the Army in 2024.
Remembering how he got the brush cleared in high school, Altamirano put in a work order to the city using the 311 phone line in February.
Not only are the trees blocking the sign, he said, but trash from the brush and other debris gets blown onto the Vallarta Mexican Restaurant’s patio and customers’ cars.
After calling 311 to start a conversation about the problem again, Altamirona Jr. ultimately wastold that the job was put on hold.
“Putting a work order on hold simply means more information is needed,” Short said. “And, in this case, it was a tree evaluation.”
Altamirona Jr. understands that finding a solution could expend city resources, he said, but is willing to pay for the work.
“Give me permission, written consent, and I’m more than willing to find a contractor of my own who’s licensed to come out here and do something about it,” Altamirona Jr. said.
He isn’t asking for the trees to be cut down, Altamirona Jr. said. His goal is to get permission for the trees to be topped off or for Vallarta to be allowed to move or raise their sign in a way that it could be seen from Victory Drive.
Columbus Councilors promise help
Altamirona Jr. spoke about Vallarta’s problem during the public agenda of the Columbus Council meeting on Tuesday.
After Altamirona Jr. described the problem and asked for help, Councilor Bruce Huff (District 3), spoke about meeting with him over the past weekend.
“We have this problem in several areas of the city,” Huff said. “Starting at this business, I went up Victory Drive and came back down from I-185. His sign is completely covered. You can’t see it at all.”
The flagpoles in front of the trees make a beautiful sight, he said, but it’s not fair for the business that’s been there for almost 30 years. Huff asked that the city managers work with the city arborist and others to see what could be done.
But Huff’s concern isn’t for only Vallarta, he said. This is a problem in “a lot of locations,” Huff said.
“We have a guy down on Veterans Parkway with the muffler business,” Huff said. “He finally just retired and went home. The trees finally grew up where you couldn’t read (his sign).”
Mayor Skip Henderson also expressed his disappointment that trees on city-owned land may grow to block businesses from being seen.
“This, just to me, seems like something that is solvable without getting too deep into the whole thing,” Henderson said during the meeting.
Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin told the council city officials will try to find a solution.
Councilor Charmaine Crabb (District 5) also asked the city attorney’s office to consider amending the UDO, so when trees are a danger to a property or impede a business, then the council could vote to allow the trees to be altered.
“We don’t want to see any business go out, especially these small businesses that have been struggling,” Huff said.
Altamirona is proud of the restaurant his family has run in Columbus for almost 30 years, Huff said.
“He’s trying to pass something on,” he said. “And his son, who served in the military, is back here trying to help his father. We have to do something. We’ve got to do something to keep them in business and keep them going.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 1:13 PM.
