Trees and Signs and Scenery

After a very quiet December, things got very busy for Scenic issues when 2006 started. To catch up:

Scenic Tree Summit

We're holding a Scenic Tree Summit on Feb. 21, at Birmingham-Southern College in the Harbert Auditorium. This is to talk about the median trees that ALDOT says are dangerous, and have to be cut down.

A lot of folks are up in arms about having to get rid of trees, but it's a little more complicated than it might appear. For example, if a city got a permit to plant trees, and was told at the time that the trees had to stay within a certain size, and they weren't maintained properly, then ALDOT is just telling a city to follow the rules they agreed to. On the other hand, if a Bradford pear is between some guy speeding down Highway 31 and my teenager coming the other way, then if he hits a tree it's better than my child.

Anyway, we decided at the first of February to try and get everyone who was interested in this to talk to each other. ALDOT, who has been very cooperative, is sending a public affairs person, an engineer and an agronomist. We've got an urban forestry expert and a transportation planner coming as well, bringing their information. We really need folks to attend, ask their questions and get a good dialogue going.

I'm planning to record the whole event and transcribe it to produce some kind of document that will be available to anyone who wants it.

Register at the website (click on "Tree Summit") or call and leave a message at 205-322-2120.

About our petition: we actually started it in January, to send to ALDOT about a different tree issue involving developers cutting trees on public land so that we could see their shopping centers. Please check it out, but keep in mind that it's not specifically about the median trees.

Preserve Alabama's Scenic Trees
I've been working on this since last summer, when I got a call from a citizen of Baldwin County about developers cutting down a lot of trees on I-10. What they had done is get permission to clear-cut between the roadway and a shopping center, then they came in and put a strip mall with its back side to the interstate,so all you see driving by is dumpsters and loading docks. We found out that developers were basically "shopping" jurisdictions - if one city would not give permission to cut the trees, then they'd take their center to the next one down the road or literally across the highway.

We did some research, and then I met the first week of January with Mr. Joe McInnes and Mr. Randy Braden at the Alabama Department of Transportation. We asked ALDOT to stop issuing permits for tree-cutting that was only to benefit private developers. There are good reasons to leave the trees - they make the area more attractive to tourists and to residents and they provide a noise barrier for the businesses and for nearby homes. There isn't really a reason to cut all the trees - trust me, if there's a WalMart in the area, people will find it, trees or not. Plus, you can clear the underbrush, leave the trees and have both visibility and green space.

When I left the meeting, ALDOT had committed to looking at their policy. I set up an online petition so that ALDOT would know that there was public support. About 330 people have signed so far, either on the website or on petitions that the Baldwin County folks have distributed. I think some of the signatures from this weekend were in favor of not cutting median trees, but I will assume they don't want interstate trees mowed down, either.

Jasper
The city of Jasper has been very forward-thinking about their newly-developing commercial areas on I-22/Corridor X. I went to the City Council meeting in mid-January when they put in a new zoning classification that will help control interchange development and keep the areas looking nice. They also put in a moratorium on signs so that they could develop a new sign ordinance. I talked to the mayor and some of the council people about the benefits of not allowing billboards, then I sent some information to them. Jasper could be a leader in keeping that corridor scenic, keeping billboards out, and then marketing the heck out of it.

Daphne
The city of Daphne set up a committee last summer to look at their sign ordinance, because there were some business issues they needed to address. One of our members in Baldwin County served on the committee as a citizen representative. At the end of the process, there were really just a few changes that they made, and the gist of the sign code stayed the same.

I think the committee realized that sign control was important to keep the attractiveness of the city. I went down there on Feb. 7 to make a presentation to the Ordinance Committee. It was my first trip to Baldwin County, and I must say the Highway 98 drive through Daphne is really pretty. (Note - Daphne also got one of the ALDOT letters to cut some of their crape myrtle plantings). The Wal-Mart in Daphne is one of the busiest in the state, and it has tasteful, attractive signage.

Lawsuits
You can read in more detail on Scenic America's website about the nuisance lawsuits that billboard companies have filed against small cities, trying to overturn their sign ordinances. Tomorrow, Feb. 14, I'm going to Atlanta to attend oral arguments at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tanner v. Fayette County case. This is one that the billboard company lost but has appealed. I'll report later this week about it.