Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

The Question of Digital Billboards

Public Hearing on Proposed Moratorium June 23

Story by Kathleen McFadden

On Monday, June 23, at 6:00 p.m., the Watauga County Board of Commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the question of whether to impose a six-month moratorium on electronic signs in the county. The purpose of the moratorium would be to give the county Planning Commission the opportunity to review the existing sign ordinance and submit recommendations to the board.

The issue came up last month when Commissioners John Cooper and Winston Kinsey discussed their concerns about electronic billboards at Broadstone Road and at the intersection of Highway 421 and Old Highway 421. Lamar Outdoor Advertising owns both billboards.

Cooper and Kinsey said they had received complaints about the signs, and Kinsey said that the sign at the 421 intersection is distracting and possibly dangerous.
Subsequently, county staff prepared a draft ordinance to establish a moratorium, and the commissioners invite comments from anyone interested in the issue at the upcoming public hearing.

County Sign Ordinance

The county sign ordinance was passed in 1985 and specifically prohibits “flashing and moving signs.” That prohibition might seem to adequately address the matter of electronic billboards, but it doesn’t because of a 2006 Board of Adjustment interpretation of the ordinance.

Don Iverson had applied for a permit for a tri-vision sign—one with three panels that flip every 10 seconds to show a new message—on Highway 105. The county Planning and Inspections Department denied the permit, characterizing the sign as “moving” and therefore prohibited.

Iverson appealed the denial to the county Board of Adjustment, and the board overturned the staff interpretation and allowed the permit. Here’s why:
The board considered the intent of the ordinance in 1985 when “flashing and moving” referred to lighted signs with lights in the shape of an arrow that flashed and to signs with moving parts. Tri-vision and digital billboards were not even envisioned at the time.

In addition, the board recognized that the NC Department of Transportation permits such signs, subject to regulations in the NC Administrative Code. All billboards on Highways 321, 221, 421 and 105 must also be permitted by DOT. The county’s original sign ordinance was modeled on DOT sign regulations except for size and spacing requirements that the commissioners decided to make more stringent than the DOT regulations.

Consequently, the Board of Adjustment justified its interpretation by stating that DOT permits such signs with the NCAC rules as the standard and the county’s ordinance is modeled on the DOT rules; therefore, the county should permit such signs because the DOT does. As part of its decision, the Board of Adjustment applied its interpretation to digital billboards, as well as to the tri-vision sign under consideration.

Subsequently, in accordance with the Board of Adjustment interpretation, the county approved permits on the two digital billboards Lamar Outdoor Advertising owns, although County Planning and Inspections Director Joe Furman said his office tried to deny the permit at the Highway 421 intersection on the basis of the road’s scenic byway status. DOT also tried to deny the permit, he said, but because the new billboard replaced an existing billboard, DOT eventually issued the permit, but insisted on changes to Lamar’s original plans for placement and direction of the sign.

Proposed Moratorium

The justification in the proposed ordinance for imposing a moratorium rests principally on safety concerns, with a nod to aesthetics:

“Whereas, public concern has been raised regarding serious highway safety regarding the changeable electronic variable message signs, the level of distraction from changeable electronic variable message signs and other operational characteristics of changeable message signs, and regarding the aesthetic impact of changeable message signs to the community;”

The ordinance also states that without appropriate planning and regulation, changeable message signs may negatively impact public health and welfare, as well as property values.

If the moratorium is adopted, the county will consider the signs’ impacts on citizens and their property, as well as the impacts on economics, tourism, recreation, health, welfare, property values and the environment.

Lamar’s Position

Lamar Outdoor Advertising Regional Sales Director Jamie Machut plans to attend the public hearing and specifically discuss the commissioners’ safety concerns.
“There is no statistical evidence anywhere that these signs have caused a fatal accident,” Machut said, and cited studies by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and consulting engineering firm Tantala Associates. “In fact, there are overwhelming amounts of evidence that digital billboards are not a safety problem.”

In July 2007, VTTI and Tantala issued a press release stating that the combined results of their two separate studies showed that traffic accidents “are no more likely to happen in the presence of digital billboards than in their absence.”

Tantala analyzed traffic and accident data 18 months before and after seven billboards were converted from conventional to digital along Interstate routes in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Virginia Tech conducted human factors research and concluded that driving performance measures—such as eye glance patterns, speed maintenance and lane keeping—in the presence of digital billboards are comparable with those associated with everyday driving.

“The digital billboards we studied can be considered safety-neutral in design and operations from a human factors perspective,” Dr. Suzanne Lee of VTTI stated in the release. “The findings were consistent across several measures.”

Machut explained that Lamar currently has 15 digital billboards from Boone to Greensboro, with 800 operational nationwide. The first one in this region went up in Lenoir in January 2006.

According to Machut, the messages on the signs change every 8 seconds—consistent with the NC Administrative Code regulations—and a maximum of six advertisers can purchase space on the board at one time. That gives each advertiser 1,665 messages per day, Machut said.

Advertising rates are about double the cost of a conventional billboard, he said, but the contract terms are more flexible. Advertisers can purchase space—if it’s available; all the slots in Greensboro are sold out—for as short a term as a weekend. In addition, advertisers can adjust their message content easily and quickly.

Along with paid advertising, the digital signs also feature public service announcements. Machut said that aside being a benefit for advertisers, digital billboards also provide benefits for communities through the PSAs.

Both of Lamar’s digital signs in Watauga County were existing billboards the company retrofitted at a cost of anywhere from $150,000 to $175,000. Machut said the company has no plans to construct additional billboards in the county, but is considering converting one or two existing billboards to digital. Planning and Inspections Director Joe Furman said that a permit application for a proposed conversion is pending in his office.

Machut cited the county’s restrictions on billboard placement as one reason why the company is not considering erecting new signshere, as well as considerations about land leases and permitting. “Ninety-nine things have to go right to put up a regular billboard. One hundred and ninety-nine things have to go right to put up a digital billboard,” he said.

If the county enacts the moratorium, Machut said, he hopes to work with the Planning Commission to study the issue of digital billboards. “I want to help,” he said. “I don’t want to be combative, but to share the information with the county and the public.”