NC billboard industry once again heads for political fight with tourism advocates, environmentalists
The latest battle in a decades-long political war over North Carolina's billboard industry was waged in a state legislative committee Wednesday.
Billboard companies have been pushing for years for additional legal authority to cut down more trees on the side of the road, so that drivers can see billboards from farther away. They've also pushed to weaken the power of city and county government officials to pass rules regulating their actions.
Republican leaders of the Senate Transportation Committee voted to advance some of the industry's requests Wednesday over objections from Democratic lawmakers, environmentalists and advocates for the state tourism industry. The changes were approved as a new amendment to House Bill 198.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a similar bill in 2019. "Protecting the beauty and environment of North Carolina should be a top priority," he wrote in his veto message.
The North Carolina Outdoor Advertising Association, which lobbies for billboard companies, didn't send a representative to speak about the bill at the committee and also didn't immediately respond to a request for comment after the meeting.
State transportation leaders, who enforce many billboard regulations, say they're not taking a stance on the proposal.
Current state law allows billboard companies seek permits to cut down any trees, except for dogwoods and redbuds, within 350 feet of billboard on most major roads — as well as cutting down trees within 200 feet of their billboards without needing a permit. The bill the Senate committee approved Wednesday would:
- Remove the protections for redbuds.
- Increase the total area they can clear along major roads, from 350 to 500 feet.
- Increase area they can clear without a permit by 50%, from 200 to 300 feet.
- Make it harder for the Department of Transportation to deny billboard relocations.
Sen. Mary Wills Bode, D-Granville, asked why redbuds were losing their protections. The bill's lead presenter at the committee, Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, told her he wasn't sure. The bill was written with help from outside stakeholders, he said.
Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, expressed concern that the tourism group Scenic North Carolina was excluded from that group of outside stakeholders. In past years when this same fight has come up, she said, they've been allowed a seat at the table.
Ryke Longest, a board member for Scenic North Carolina who also leads Duke University's Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, attended Wednesday's committee. He said he wanted to tell lawmakers what he would've told them in private, had the group been invited into those discussions.
Redbuds are an iconic springtime tree that people love to see blooming, Longest said. He argued that while cutting them down could indeed help the billboard industry make more money, it will also harm the natural beauty of North Carolina that's a key part of the state's tourism draw.
“All it’s going to do is increase the uglification of the state," Longest said.
Molly Diggins, who retired years ago as director of the state Sierra Club chapter, came to the committee to express her frustration that this debate is still happening. Cutting down more trees will only worsen the effects of climate change and lead to even hotter temperatures, she said, in addition to other negative impacts.
"Please don't do this," she told the lawmakers. "These are the public's trees. … What does the public get for what's been proposed here?"
No one from the public spoke in favor of the bill before the committee voted to pass it.
State transportation leaders, who enforce many billboard regulations, say they're not taking a stance on the proposal.
Years of debate
Political fights over billboard regulations have divided the legislature for decades, under both Republican and Democratic control.
WRAL reporting shows that at least as far back as 2004 some state lawmakers were already complaining that the industry had been ramping up its spending on lobbying, to pressure the General Assembly into changing laws to financially benefit the industry.
The 2004 bill passed the legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat.
The issue has repeatedly come back up at the legislature in the years since. And while the industry has suffered some losses in that time, such as the 2019 bill that Cooper vetoed, it has also won some victories.
In 2021 the state budget included a provision making it easier for companies to move their billboards to new locations. And a separate law on criminal justice reforms that year banned local governments from passing any rules regulating billboards that could lead to criminal penalties for violations.
