Proposal Would Bring Down Billboards Citizens For Scenic Spokane Applauds Planning Commission’S Recommendation

The Spokane County Planning Commission has unveiled a proposal to clear billboards off all but the busiest roads in the unincorporated area within five years.

The plan also would restrict the size of remaining billboards.

An anti-billboard group called Citizens for a Scenic Spokane hailed the proposal this week.

“Citizens for a Scenic Spokane wholeheartedly supports the Planning Commission’s recommendation and their insightful work towards restoring the visual aesthetics of our community by removing billboards,” the group said in a press release.

But a local outdoor advertising executive called the proposed amendment to the county’s zoning code “terrible.”

“They’re putting our backs to the wall, where we can only bring a lawsuit,” said Duane Halliday, general manager of Lamar Outdoor Advertising. “They want an all-or-nothing deal.”

The proposal has been nearly two years in the making. A moratorium on new billboards has been in effect while the Planning Commission works on the proposed amendment.

It would ban billboards on all roads in the unincorporated area except Pines Road, Trent Avenue, Sunset Highway, Newport Highway, U.S. Highway 395, Interstate 90, Francis Avenue and state Highway 206.

All other billboards would have to be torn down within five years.

The remaining billboards would be restricted to 288 square feet in size and could be no more than 35 feet high.

Only those currently along the roads designated for billboards would be allowed to stay. No new permits would be issued for billboards.

Halliday said the proposed code amendment unfairly restricts his industry, and that if the county pursues the proposal, it should compensate owners for all the billboards that will be torn down.

“When is it up to a group of people to decide that a business has made enough money and now should go away?” Halliday asked, adding that the industry’s proposed compromises were rebuffed.

Those compromises included limiting the number of billboards to those already in existence and spacing the signs at least 1,000 feet apart, he said.

Citizens for a Scenic Spokane stood by the planning commission’s proposal.

“Their recommendation is the result of several lengthy public hearings and workshops where testimony was presented on the negative effects that billboards represent to traffic safety and their detrimental effects on the region’s aesthetics, livability and resulting ability to encourage positive economic growth,” the group said in its statement.

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Public hearing

The Spokane County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday on a proposed zoning code amendment that would severely limit the number of billboards in the unincorporated area. The hearing begins at 1:30 p.m. in the lower level of the county Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway. The planning commissioners will make a recommendation on the proposal to county commissioners, who have the final say on the amendment.