Proposed billboard measure would “uglify” North Carolina, opponents say

Redbuds must die so drivers can see billboards for the Elevate Wellness Group. Rising above the freeway, over 500 square feet are plastered photos of an attractive woman, a deflated balloon or a ripe banana — a wink-wink at the business of curing erectile dysfunction.

Loblolly pines can be chopped so outdoor ads for personal injury lawyers are readable at 70 mph: “We help people hit by trucks.”

Maples, oaks, magnolias: All gone so as not to obstruct a single golden arch for McDonald’s.

That’s the gist of House Bill 198, an omnibus transportation measure that would allow billboard owners to significantly expand the area in which they can cut, trim, prune and remove trees “of any age” — even the beloved redbud — to ostensibly increase the visibility of outdoor advertising in the public right-of-way. The legislation also would narrow local governments’ ability to pass ordinances about billboard placement and tree cutting.

“Billboards are visible under current law,” argued Dale McKeel of Scenic North Carolina, which opposes the measure, before the Senate Transportation Committee today. “This bill allows trees to be cut that aren’t even blocking the sign.”

Because they are the officially designated State Flower, dogwoods are exempt from the bill.

The bill language is the result of negotiations held last year among Republican lawmakers, the outdoor advertising industry and former DOT Secretary Eric Boyette. (Boyette retired last fall; Joey Hopkins is the new secretary.) It expands on 2011 legislation, controversial at the time, that nonetheless represented a compromise among opposing interest groups.

Now, though, the behind-the-scenes discussions excluded many, if not all, billboard opponents. “We were not at the table. This was done without our input,” said Ryke Longest of Scenic North Carolina, and a Duke University law professor. “Beauty is good for business. Billboards are wonderful if you want to uglify a place.”

Sen. Julie Mayfield, a Buncombe County Democrat, proposed a compromise amendment to the bill that while increasing the allowable area for cutting, is still smaller than what’s being proposed. “We should be saving as many trees as possible,” Mayfield said. “But my objection to the bill is a process one. When you get the right people around the table, including those who disagree, you have a better outcome. That didn’t happen.”

Sen. Steve Jarvis, a Republican representing Davidson and Davie counties, opposed the compromise amendment because “it’s a safety issue.”

“I don’t like it when I’m trying to look at a billboard and deciding where to turn,” Jarvis said. 

“Billboards distract drivers,” Molly Diggins, former director of the North Carolina Sierra Club, said. “That’s the safety issue.”

Diggins pleaded with the committee to strike the language. “We could lose hundreds if not thousands of trees. These are the public’s trees. What will the public benefit?”

Outdoor advertising companies would have to pay a fee, based on the size of the tree to be cut, to the state Department of Transportation. Sen. Mayfield said she asked billboard advocates to support using those fees to replant low-growing shrubs and dwarf trees.

“They seemed to open to that in a different bill,” Mayfield said. “They would like to open up the conversation.”

Mayfield’s amendment failed, and the committee issued a favorable report on the bill. It now goes to Senate Finance.