APRIL 9, 2009 ISSUE
What To Do With Billboards? We’ve Got Six Months…
Watauga Commissioners Extend Moratorium on All Billboards and Off-Premise Electronic Signs Until October 23
After only one person—a representative from Lamar Outdoor Advertising—provided public comment during an April 6 public hearing, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners voted to extend a moratorium on all billboards and all off-premise electronic signs in the county until October 23.
During the moratorium, businesses will be able to install regular signage in front of their location, but the installation of any sort of LED sign, other electronic sign or off-premise sign by any party is prohibited.
During the March 17 commissioners’ meeting, Watauga County Planning and Inspection Director Joe Furman presented the Watauga County Planning Board’s recommendation for amendments to the Watauga County Sign Ordinance, relevant to electronic billboards. The planning board spent 10 months readying the amendments. After providing an overview of the recommendation, Furman suggested that the current moratorium could be extended if more time was needed to tweak the ordinance. Watauga County Attorney Andrea Capua said that if the board was going to spend more time on the ordinance, they might as well make it apply to all billboards and off-premise electronic signs. The board agreed and said they needed more time to evaluate the ordinance. The public hearing was scheduled to allow residents to comment on the establishment of a new moratorium.
At the April 6 public hearing, Jamie Machut from Lamar Outdoor Advertising spoke in favor of extending the moratorium. Machut expressed concern over arbitrary language in the current ordinance and that his company, which owns many of the billboards in question, was not contacted in the ordinance planning process.
“We ask that [the commissioners and planning board] please be open in discussing these issues,” said Machut. “We never heard from you initially and I’m not sure you have all the right information.”
Machut iterated to the board that all of his billboards located in Watauga County were built with legitimate permits from the state and county and he is concerned about future ordinance changes backdating his projects. Machut is also concerned that the new ordinance will attempt to make “material changes to the content of the billboards,” he said, with which he disagrees. Machut hopes work during the moratorium will allow for the creation of a more fair and balanced ordinance, he said.
After hearing Machut’s comments, the commissioners closed the public hearing and voted unanimously to extend the moratorium for another six months. The commissioners plan to schedule a public hearing in the near future to allow additional public comment on the new amendments.
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