What I said in Atlanta

The public forum in Atlanta about the Highway Beautification Act had about 30 people in attendance. I was pleased to see a good number of people from garden clubs and beautification boards. The garden club ladies are very concerned about cutting trees in front of billboards, and the beautification folks say that billboards are a blight and make a place ugly. They're right, of course.

Thank you to all the Scenic Alabama people who submitted comments. I put them in a document on a CD and gave it along with email printouts to the consultants. I think we impressed them.

For your edification and delight, here are the comments I made. Feel free to use them yourselves if you need to explain to someone why you don't like billboards.

Who owns the roads? Do the citizens who pay for interstate highways through their tax dollars have a right to peaceful enjoyment of their property? Or are they destined to be assaulted by commercial advertising that they cannot escape?

In the more than 40 years since the HBA was adopted, things have changed. Billboards have changed – they are not the little signs nestled in the trees or popping up in a cow pasture. They are huge structures, as high as cell phone towers in some cases, looming over the road and filling up the view. Travelers have changed – they get their information from the internet, their auto club and travel magazines. They stop at welcome centers, they read maps. They plan their travel, and they depend on wayfinding signs such as logo signs and on-premise signs.

Billboard content has changed. Only about half the billboards on the interstates in Alabama are directional in nature – that is, they refer the viewer to a specific site. The rest are advertisements for chiropractors and Coke, for radio stations and churches, for Crown Royal and subdivisions. Even those billboards that are directional are not always travel oriented – many are for furniture stores, car dealerships and other non-tourist destinations. And, since you cannot regulate the content of a billboard, there is no way to insure that billboards on interstate highways actually give information to travelers.

When the HBA was adopted, Congress agreed that billboards should be controlled, in order to promote public safety and to preserve natural beauty. Its purpose has been chipped away in the ensuing years, until now the citizens who own the roads have no say in what they look like.

In every other area of our economic life, we can opt out of advertising. We can put down the newspaper and close the magazine. We can turn off the radio or TIVO the television. We can put spam filters on our email and pop-up blockers on our browsers. We can put our phone on a do-not-call list. But when we’re on the road, we’re stuck. And that’s not right.

In Alabama, the Highway Beautification Act does not work in regard to billboard control. We have many miles of federal-control highways and very few resources to administer and enforce the law.

One of the challenges is the HBA’s loophole regarding unzoned property. Only a few Alabama counties have zoning, and the “commercial or industrial use” clause is interpreted very liberally. We have billboard companies that establish paint shops or small offices in rural areas, then claim those as commercial uses and construct billboards. It appears that even power line right of way is interpreted as commercial use, leading to blighted areas with billboards stacked one upon the other.

It is also difficult to enforce our state’s requirements that the public’s trees not be cut for billboard visibility. It is far too easy for a company to ask forgiveness rather than permission. I am proud to say that ALDOT has just adopted a new policy regarding trees, at the request of hundreds of citizens. We expect that ALDOT will be paying more attention to preserving the public’s trees in the future.

The HBA’s allowing billboards in commercial or industrial areas is outdated. At the time, it was thought that those areas were already ugly, so a billboard wouldn’t make it any worse. Today, cities across the country are revitalizing their downtowns, and those commercial areas are as attractive as any mountain view. Billboards on interstates in urban areas such as Birmingham are not only unattractive – for example one in Birmingham blocks the view of historic Phillips High School – but also a dangerous distraction at the “malfunction junction” that so many cities have.

Scenic Alabama and its members and supporters would like to see no billboards permitted on federal highways, particularly the interstates and limited access highways. This would protect the rights of the public owners of the roads.

We realize that is an ambitious goal. In the interim, these are some proposals to strengthen the HBA and its enforcement.

• create an annual fee system to fund enforcement and administration, the proceeds of which would go to the state or other authority that administers the HBA.
• look at federal guidelines for logo signs, directional signs and TODS, to determine what ways those programs can be enhanced to give actual travel information
• allow local jurisdictions to “opt in” to billboards.In cities that have sign ordinances, this would not be needed, because they have already determined whether or not to permit them. We should not that most cities prohibit them or seriously restrict them. But in areas that do not have zoning, the local community, which after all is impacted by the billboard, should have the opportunity to say yes or no.
• tighten the guidelines for placement in unzoned areas, to create more specificity as to what is considered a commercial use.
• expand the distance requirement. 500 feet is much too close for the new monopole billboards. Jurisdictions that permit billboards generally require 1,500 to 2,000 feet between boards, and that includes across the street from each other.
• retain the requirement that nonconforming signs destroyed by weather or natural occurrences cannot be rebuilt. This protect communities that do not want billboards.
• create a federal enforcement mechanism for billboards that are illegally constructed or reconstructed.That is, a company that put up a board illegally would be subject to federal prosecution.
• do not permit digital display boards on interstates. They are a safety hazard.

Feds want your input on billboards

The Federal Highway Administration has hired a consulting firm (The Osprey Group) to do a national assessment of outdoor advertising controls. They are holding public forums around the country. There is one next week, Sept. 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta. You don't have to attend to participate - you can make comments either online or you can submit them to Scenic Alabama and we'll take them to Atlanta next week. (Details below)

You can comment on whether billboards have a place in public spaces, local control, amortization (requiring billboard removal after a certain number of years), tree cutting for visibility, nonconforming signs, electronic signs, the unzoned area loophole (affects Alabama), enforcement, administration - whatever your concern as a citizen.

I found out from Scenic America that the outdoor advertising industry is trying to overwhelm the public forums and comments by sheer number. I looked at the comments on the federal docket, and it was obvious they were just parroting the party line. So, we're not going to tell you what to say. It's important that you speak for yourself. There are resources at Scenic Alabama and Scenic America's websites, and I'll send you a copy of Scenic Alabama's comments if you email me.

This is a major study and it's important that citizens respond! We certainly don't need the billboard companies to be the only voices!


1. Make comments on the federal docket. Go to: http://dms.dot.gov. The Docket Number is 25031. To read the background information, click on Simple Search and enter the docket number. To enter a comment, click on Comments/Submissions, and follow the instructions.

OR

2. Submit comments by email to ScenicAlabama, and I will compile them and submit at the Atlanta meeting. Please include your full name and ZIP Code, plus contact information if you want a call back.

This is the flyer that was sent by the consulting firm:

Public Session on The National Outdoor Advertising Control Program
We Want To Hear Your Thoughts!
Where and When:
Thursday, September 21st, 2006 5:30pm-7:30pm
At the City Hall Auditorium
68 West Mitchell St. (Southeast Corner of Central Ave and Mitchell St.)
Atlanta, GA 30303


Background:

The National Outdoor Advertising Control (OAC) Program has been developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in response to the Highway Beautification Act (HBA) in 1965. The HBA and the OAC Program focus on signage along the national highway system – interstates, scenic byways and other "federal aid highways." (States and local communities may also have signage regulations separate from the OAC Program.)


The Federal Highway Administration is working with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and the Osprey Group to do an assessment of how effective the OAC program is in regulating outdoor advertising. We are interested in hearing from any interested member of the public and encourage you to drop by to convey your thoughts and opinions about the OAC Program.


Possible topics for discussion

The public discussions will focus on three broad topics:
Benefits of and concerns about outdoor advertising
Effectiveness of the national OAC Program in regulating outdoor advertising
How some of the current controversies with the regulatory program can be addressed


If you cannot attend, you can enter your comments in the federal register docket. (Although the official deadline has passed, comments can still be entered.) Follow the link to: http://dms.dot.gov. The Docket Number is 25031. To read the background information, click on Simple Search and enter the docket number. To enter a comment, click on Comments/Submissions, and follow the instructions.

Keeping it clean in Jefferson County

It's been more than 10 years since Jefferson County passed a billboard control law. At the time, we fought hard to prohibit any new billboards, but the law that passed simply capped the number of boards. Since then, cities have grown (e.g. Hoover) and several new ones have incorporated (e.g. Center Point). A lot of those cities prohibit billboards, although they still have "grandfathered" boards to contend with.

The county's law creates a loophole that can force billboards on cities that don't want them, if there are unincorporated areas within or next to the city. We want to change the law to not allow any new billboard construction at all, or as an alternative to require the County Commission to hold a public hearing.

This article in the Birmingham News explains the issue and Scenic Alabama's proposal. I'll post more details in a couple of days, but I invite anyone who would like to join us in this effort to contact your county commissioner. We need action sooner rather than later!