[Durham INC] Senate hearing on billboard legislation

[Ed Harrison]

This is a report just out from an environmental lobbyist on this past  
week's hearing on "the billboard bill," in this past Wednesday's  
meeting of the State Senate Transportation Committee. He reported on a  
number of items, but gave this issue the most attention.

Thanks are due to Senator McKissick.

The links may not be "live" in the email you receive; they are links  
to photos taken in NC.

Ed Harrison



  Many times when people speak of their love for North Carolina they  
point to the beauty of the Outer Banks or the Great Smokey Mountains,  
but one gem that goes often times under the radar is that gorgeous  
stretch of 90 miles on I-95 towards South Carolina adorned with 100’s  
of billboards for Café Risque and ethnic stereotype promotion viaSouth  
of the Border, it is this stretch of glorious highway that makes many  
folks leaving the state think to themselves, North Carolina: You Never  
Sausage a Place!  In hopes of making that feeling statewide the S.  
Transportation Committee held its first hearing onS183 (Selective  
Vegetation Removal/State Highways.) on Wednesday.

  The bill was introduced by Sen. Harry Brown (Jones-R) who described  
the bill as a “fairness issue” and a “jobs bill.”  He went through the  
bill and highlighted the local control issue that would dominate the  
debate, concluding “everyone in this room relies on billboards.”   
After a walkthrough of the bill by legislative staff, seven speakers  
were given up to three minutes each.  Ben Hitchings (N.C. American  
Planning Association) commented that “the view from our roadways is  
the first and last impression of our community” and distributed a map  
showing all the State and Federal roads affected by the legislation.   
Julie White (Metropolitan Mayors Coalition) stated that they  
unanimously opposed the legislation and that decisions are best made  
at the local level.  Paul Meyer (NC League of Municipalities) pointed  
to two distinct areas in the bill, the automatic conversion of regular  
billboards to digital and the override of local tree ordinances as  
problem areas.  Anne Franklin (speaking as a citizen and former member  
of the Raleigh City Council) spoke of the local decision years ago to  
not have billboards on stretches of I-40 and also of safety concerns  
with flashing billboard displays.  Jon Nance (Department of  
Transportation) pointed to the local preemption, digital sign  
provisions, and potential rulemaking issues with the bill.  Tony Adams  
(NC Outdoor Advertisers Association) spoke in favor of the bill and  
pointed to mitigation strategies stating “one could argue there would  
be more trees” as a result of the bill, he also pointed to the economy  
and need for less regulation in these times.  Kevin Leonard (NC  
Association of County Commissioners) closed out the speakers pointing  
again to concerns over lack of local control, digital billboards and  
aesthetics.

Following the speakers Sens. Richard Stevens (Wake-R), Floyd McKissick  
(Durham-D) and Malcolm Graham (Mecklenburg-D) all voiced concerns over  
taking decision making on the issue out of the local control.  A few  
questioned where the preemption in the bill was and voiced support for  
the changes to the set back and vegetation removal portions of the  
bill.  Perhaps sensing that the bill was not quite a smash hit, Sen.  
Brown requested time for a paws and indicated there would be no vote  
on the bill as he wanted to respond to concerns.  The bill will likely  
reappear in the committee, so save any unused bagels for next time,  
the true grits of the committee will be tested when the bill comes  
back up, and while reception to the bill was chili today it could  
definitely be hot tamale.

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