[Durham INC] ACTION ALERT: Contact your NC legislators and tell them you OPPOSE HB 581 (Billboards)

[Dale McKeel]

The billboard industry is back in 2017with additional legislative requests, even though the N.C. General Assembly inrecent years has passed several bills requested by the industry.  This year five such bills have beenintroduced.



One of these bills, House Bill 581, willbe discussed by the House Finance Committee on Tuesday, May 16.  Scenic North Carolina (SNC) OPPOSES HB 581.  Pleasecall and/or email your NC House representative and members of the House financecommittee before Tuesday, May 16 and tell them you oppose HB 581.
 You can find your legislatorhere.   You can find theHouse Finance Committee here.  You can find contactinformation for all legislators here. House Bill 581 would do the following:   
   - Eliminate localcontrol over digital billboards.  Anyexisting billboard on interstate and other major highways could be upgraded toa digital billboard.  Recent studies showthat crashes increase around digital billboards.  See this linkfor more info.
   - Eliminate localcontrol over billboard height.  Anyexisting sign can be raised to 80 feet tall or more (the height of a five tosix-story building).  This would overridecurrent state rules setting the maximum height at 50 feet.   

   - Allow digitalbillboards to be spaced 1000 feet apart on each side of the highway.  This would allow 10 digital billboards permile. 

House Bill 581 may be modified incommittee to add language from the other billboard bills introduced in 2017(House Bills 173, 578, 579, and 580). This added language could do the following:   
   - Make billboardsmore visible by increasing the maximum zone for cutting the public’s trees onhighway right of way around billboards, allowing the cutting of trees in themedian and the gore area at exit ramps, and removing protections for existingdogwood and redbud trees.   

   - Force the N.C.Department of Transportation and local governments to pay billboard companiesfar more than is currently required to remove existing signs for public worksprojects.   

   - Allow billboard companiesto relocate an existing billboard from one part of a community to another, evenif that means placing the sign in an area where it is not allowed by the localordinance or along a road that has been designated as billboard free.   

 ACT NOW to let your legislators know youOPPOSE HB 581 (Billboards).  Please callyour legislator’s office and follow up with an email to let them know that youoppose HB 581 (Billboards). ***  Please send this alert to others interestedpeople and groups  *** Pleasefeel free to call or write me if you have any questions about this. Sincerely, DaleMcKeelBoardMember of Scenic North Carolina3559Hamstead CourtDurham NC27707919-236-1815 (cell)

   

   

   

   

   

   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.deltaforce.net/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20170514/306e1d06/attachment.html>