Billboard Rules Not Altered Yet Meanwhile, Moratorium On New Signs Due To Expire

Pend Oreille County commissioners Monday rejected a billboard-restricting ordinance that mistakenly promised larger signs.

They told Planning Director Gary Fergen to bring them an ordinance more to their liking in two weeks, when they plan to take action. But that will be a week after a moratorium on new billboards expires.

Commissioners couldn’t extend the moratorium because an extension would require public notice that would delay action for two weeks.

“I screwed up,” said Commission Chairman Joel Jacobsen. “I take full blame for that.”

Jacobsen apologized to eight constituents who unanimously panned the proposed ordinance as inadequate and feared billboard companies will try to take advantage of the one-week gap.

No one from the billboard industry attended Monday’s hearing.

“Most of these signs are for people who don’t live here,” said Sandee Meade, a teacher who lives near Newport. “Most of them advertise things that people here can’t even afford.”

She wants existing billboards torn down, a proposition even Jacobsen - the most ardent billboard opponent among the commissioners - found impractical.

Instead, Jacobsen called for restricting all new billboards to 50 square feet, less than one-tenth the current state-established maximum.

The proposed ordinance was drafted by the county Planning Commission after commissioners declared a six-month moratorium on new billboards in April. Commissioners were alarmed by the erection of several giant new billboards between Newport and Diamond Lake, including one next to property owned by Jacobsen.

At the time, even Commissioner Mike Hanson, a champion of private property rights, said he thought the state-maximum billboard size of 672 square feet, or 14 by 48 feet, could “reasonably be cut in half.”

Hanson’s support appeared to have waned Monday, when he asked, “When are we going to say to people what color they can paint their houses, how big their houses can be and where they can put them?”

Commissioner Karl McKenzie moved to have Fergen submit a more restrictive ordinance.

The Planning Commission proposal would have authorized signs up to 14 by 64 feet if they meet certain standards.

Fergen said that was a mistake caused by lack of familiarity with state regulations. While counties may impose tighter rules for billboards, they may not reduce state standards.

Fergen said the Planning Commission wanted to allow variances, and he sought to avoid the time-consuming process by spelling out conditions under which larger signs could be allowed.

, DataTimes