County Oks Billboard Move Commission Sides With Safety For Road Project On East Trent

Billboards are unsightly, but not as ugly as mangled cars and bleeding constituents, Spokane County commissioners decided.

In a Tuesday vote, they agreed to amend the county’s billboard ban to allow the state Department of Transportation to relocate several signs on East Trent Avenue to make way for a road-widening project.

Commissioner Phil Harris, who made the motion to approve the amendment, said he did so “in the interest of safety.”

Commissioner John Roskelley, a vocal critic of billboards, joined Harris and colleague Kate McCaslin in the unanimous vote.

State officials have wanted to add a left-turn lane to Trent between Fancher and Sullivan for several years.

That stretch of road is notorious for rear-end collisions and has been designated a high-accident corridor by state officials.

The Transportation Department recently procured the money to add an extra lane to Trent, only to find the billboards standing in the way.

The signs, which advertise everything from beer to health-care plans, are on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway property on the south side of Trent.

The railroad reached a tentative agreement with transportation officials to grant an easement across its property for the extra lane, but only if state officials agreed to move the billboards farther south on BNSF property.

That plan ran afoul of the county’s recently passed moratorium on issuing new building permits for billboards. Moving the signs will require new permits.

The proposal to move the signs stirred up antibillboard advocates, who said doing so would undermine the county’s recently passed ban.

Residents who live along the affected stretch of Trent argued their safety was more important than the scenery.

Billboard owners said ordering the permanent removal of their signs would deny their right to do business and demanded that they be compensated.

In the end, commissioners compromised, saying the billboards could be moved but not improved or enlarged.

“Every one stays exactly like it is,” Harris said.

County officials also will check to see if four of the 14 billboards were erected illegally. If so, those four may be torn down.

Tuesday’s decision clears the way for DOT officials to begin preparing the road-widening project to go out to bid, DOT spokesman Al Gilson said.

If all goes well, construction on the turn lane could begin by fall and be completed by next summer, Gilson said.

The project is expected to cost from $5 million to $10 million.