
photo courtesy of John Schelp
A billboard ad near N.C. 147 last year in Durham.
The Senate bill might have died without compromise. A month ago, when the Senate Transportation Committee first reviewed it, members from both parties raised issue with proposed changes that would have overruled any local ordinances on signs and billboards across the state.
Several Democrats, including Sen. Floyd McKissick of Durham, commended Brown for his efforts to find compromise on the bill.
"I think you've come a long way," McKissick said to Brown, adding that he felt more comfortable with the way the proposal was headed.
But there's still more work to do, according to Hitchings and lobbyists Dana Fenton, representing the city of Charlotte, and Paul Meyer, representing the N.C. League of Municipalities. As Meyer spoke to the committee Wednesday, he likened current tree-cutting laws to being just enough to "picture-frame" billboards, or trim trees down just enough for signs to be viewable without clearing them entirely. The proposed law could open up wider areas to clear cutting, not just trimming, and would overrule tree-preservation measures towns have taken locally.
And there is one other notable change—and possible loophole— for signs using electricity, Hitchings pointed out. The bill would now prohibit cities or towns from denying electrical utility permits to billboards. This is currently an enforcement tool cities may use to prevent non-compliant billboards from having access to electricity, said Hitchings, also a town planner. If the bill passes, cities wouldn't be able to deny permits if the N.C. DOT had issued a valid permit for that billboard under state law starting in October.
The bill also increases three permitting fees for billboard companies, doubling the rate for vegetation removal from $200 to $400, and allocating $30 a year from every legal billboard to an N.C. Department of Transportation beautification program. But, as Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, pointed out to his fellow committee members, there was no language in the bill to suggest that trees removed from a particular highway would be restored to that same area, or phrases that defined what "beautification" projects were. An engineer with the N.C. DOT said his department intended on using the revenue for from those permit fees to plant decorative trees such as crape myrtles in highly visible spots including the landscapes that divide highways.
A companion bill in the N.C. House, (HB 309) is still pending review by the House Transportation Committee.