Billboard opponents fighting legislation

“Loopholes proposed by the billboard industry have eroded the scenic beauty of East Tennessee (and) the amendment has more loopholes in it than Swiss cheese,” said Jim Harter of Scenic Tennessee, a group that seeks to protect the visual character of the state’s roadways.

The legislation has passed the state Senate and is scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the House.

Under state law, existing buildings are exempt from local zoning changes even if they don’t meet the new standards. The property can be torn down, rebuilt or even expanded.

Billboards are not mentioned in the code, but courts have interpreted them as being included. So even if Tennessee banned billboards today, all the old ones could stay or even be enlarged, billboard foe and former Knoxville City Councilwoman Carlene Malone said.

Sen. JoAnn Graves, D-Gallatin, and Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, introduced legislation to correct that by exempting billboards from the state law. No longer could old billboards be grandfathered in under new zoning laws, and if they were taken down for a certain period they could not be rebuilt.

But Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, added an amendment that removed local government control over the size, height and setbacks of existing billboards, Malone said. Thirteen home-rule municipalities, including Knoxville, would not be affected but counties and smaller towns would.

“I’m hearing there are people in favor of this because it places a limit on sign sizes,” Malone said. “But what they’re not looking at is that it allows all of them (billboards) to get much bigger.

“If you want limits, the local government can put limits. (The amended bill) removes local control and removes any incentive to make signs smaller,” she said.

Tim Griffin, executive director of the Tennessee Outdoor Advertising Association, said billboard advertisers are not going to go against the wishes of local governments.

“Their concerns may be over-inflated,” Griffin said of opponents. “We’re not going to gut local zoning ordinances by any stretch of the imagination. As far our industry is concerned, we’re not going to be able to do anything more (whether) the bill passes or fails.”

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On the Net:

Read HB1472/SB0348 at Tennessee General Assembly: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com