There wouldn't be any point in putting up billboards if they were obscured by trees, now would there? Like 'em or not, billboards in many situations are legal and to a certain extent useful. So the issue is not whether to allow tree-cutting in front of the signs. Practically speaking, some cutting is unavoidable.
What the issue does involve - and this argument has been going on for years - is the amount of cutting that should be allowed. And who should decide.
Guess what: If billboard companies, or outdoor advertising companies as they like to be called, get to write their own rules for permissible clearing in front of their signs, those rules will be pretty darn lax. A tree that happens to find itself sprouting in front a billboard, if it can't manage to pull up roots and get out of the way, had better say its prayers and get ready to meet its Maker.
Now, when the General Assembly enacts a law, responsibility lies with its elected members. But it sometimes happens that unelected special interests put their stamp on the process. They link up with sympathetic lawmakers, submit a wish list and, voila! Campaign contributions, before or after the fact, are always appreciated.
Sympathy for a business agenda inclined toward low taxes and minimal regulation is not hard to find in the Republican-controlled legislature. So when the GOP took control in the 2010 elections, the billboard folks figured the time was ripe to press for weaker rules.
Soon enough, along came a bill that amounted to their died-and-gone-to-heaven version of how North Carolina should regulate billboards. A prominent change would have allowed signs with changing, digital messages - in other words, blinking lights and flashing pictures, the better to attract attention and distract drivers - even if communities wanted to keep them out. That was more than even the Republicans were prepared to swallow.
But the industry wasn't giving up. It continued to push for leniency in tree-cutting. And in June, legislators agreed. They should have asked themselves how often ordinary members of the public have complained about not being able to see billboards because of all the foliage. What, it's never happened? We didn't think so.
The new law expands the area in front of billboards in which trees can be cut, from a 250-foot zone to 340 feet in cities and 380 feet in the country. Cutting could begin in March. There's no telling at this point how many trees could be lost, but there are about 8,000 billboards along North Carolina highways. A state Department of Transportation official says some areas now targeted for tree-clearing haven't been cut since the 1980s.
This looks like another case of an industry grabbing for favorable treatment just because it could. And a too-compliant legislature was pleased to oblige. The looser rules are unnecessary and will do nothing to improve the scenery for highway travelers. Message to billboard companies: Don't press your luck.
