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County adopts modified billboard ordinance

Document amended to address Dillsboro sign

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Shocked and amazed at what they'd just witnessed, more than 70 residents stormed out of a county commission meeting following a board vote opposite of what they'd requested.

The majority of those at the meeting last Thursday, Dec. 16, were there to ask commissioners to support an off-premise sign ordinance recommended by county planners last month, and not a modified ordinance that eliminated many of the controls proposed on billboards.

More than 20 people spoke in favor of the original ordinance. Some, like Burt Kornegay of Cullowhee pleaded with the three commissioners who had previously voted in favor of the modified ordinance to change their votes.

The three commissioners - Roberta Crawford, Franz Whitmire and Conrad Burrell - attempted earlier this month to pass a less stringent ordinance, with Commissioners Jay Denton and Stacy Buchanan voting "no." But the ordinance was not adopted following a opinion from county attorney Raymond Large, who explained that an ordinance had to be unanimously approved on first reading to be approved.

Many at last Thursday's meeting said they'd attended to express their displeasure with the earlier 3-2 vote, including Sylva attorney Mark Melrose, who asked, "Why are you not representing the people who voted you into office?" Debra Newman, a Cashiers landowner, said she was "horrified by the (previous) vote."

Others in the audience, including Joyce Moore, Janet Evans, Jerry Hall and Paul Collins, submitted petitions to the board with more than 600 names of those who supported the original ordinance, including 25 third-graders from Summit Charter School in Cashiers.

"We have developed what we think is a very good ordinance," said planning board member Phil Gibson. Irene Hooper, the mayor of the Village of Forest Hills, gave her support to Gibson and the other 15 members of the planning board.

"Growth management is at the heart of this ordinance," Dillsboro businessman T.J. Walker said of the planning board's ordinance.

Louise Bedford, a member of the Webster Town Board, said even though her community does not allow billboards, that doesn't mean they are not visible from Webster. "I can't understand why a board would not listen (to the people," Bedford said. "A day of reckoning is coming, and it's called election day." George Allison and Gary Ayers, both of Allison Outdoor Advertising, spoke on behalf of the modified ordinance.

"Some people think we didn't give anything," Ayers said. "We agreed to 300 square feet (of advertising space) on four-lane roads and 150 square feet on two-lane roads; we agreed to lower our signs to 40 feet; and we agreed to 500-foot spacing. People fail to realize the industry gave a lot." The figures used by Ayers were in comparison to state regulations for billboard advertising. The N.C. Department of Transportation regulates billboards where local laws do not. DOT allows a maximum billboard height of 50 feet and advertising space of 1,200 square feet. The agency also allows signs to be place 300 feet apart.

"The ordinance you have supported is between the two extremes - the planning board and the DOT," said Allison, who pointed out that many Western North Carolina counties do not have sign ordinances, including Swain, Clay, Cherokee and Graham. "But Haywood County does have a sign ordinance," Chairman Denton said, "and no one would argue that Haywood is hurting economically."

Though he voiced strong support for the original ordinance, Denton said he was willing "to come to the middle of the road" on some of the issues, with the exception of a setback from homes similar to those required for churches, schools and playgrounds. "Putting a billboard in someone's backyard is just wrong," he said.

"People are asking me, 'Why is the board not going with the public?'" Commissioner Buchanan told his fellow board members. "This is a democracy. We have to do what the people want." Commissioner Crawford said most of the calls she'd received on the issue were from people who "don't what an ordinance at all."

Commissioner Burrell addressed those who have questioned his relationship with Allison by admitting their friendship. "We are friends, but when it comes to a decision that affects Jackson County, I vote my conscience," he said. "I don't feel we have any major problem here."

Whitmire said his support for the modified ordinance stemmed from a belief that billboards won't affect his constituents in southern Jackson County any time soon.

"Maybe in the future (the ordinance) can be stricter," said Whitmire, whose statement drew a sharp "With a different commission" from the audience.

A motion made by Denton to adopt the original planning board recommendation failed 2-3, after which Crawford made the motion to adopt the modified version. During discussion on the motion, Denton attempted to include a setback from homes and lengthen spacing requirements to 750 feet on both sides of thoroughfares.

"You and I have talked about this, and you know I can't support it," said Crawford, who would not allow Denton to amendment to her motion.

Almost immediately upon adopting the ordinance, commissioners amended the document to strengthen its power against the billboard that started the debate in August. PNE AOA Media of Pisgah Forest was alerted by the DOT on Aug. 17 that a sign they'd constructed just south of Dillsboro "is in violation of the Outdoor Advertising Control Act..." The letter from District Engineer Rick Styles also informs PNE representative Frank Moody that the sign needed to be made to conform or be removed.

PNE filed suit against both the DOT and the county, claiming the state agency and the county's moratorium were preventing the company from receiving advertising revenues. PNE officials claim they had worked out arrangements with both prior to erecting the 50-foot sign on the weekend of Aug. 14 and 15.

The sign in question would have been grandfathered under the county's approved ordinance without the addition of the work "legally" in a statement that now reads "all nonconforming signs legally in existence prior to the effective date of this ordinance are permitted to continue..."

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