Editorial for August 2004

The Billboard Bill

Before he vetoed the bill requiring cities to pay cash compensation when they order the removal of outdoor advertising signs, I wonder if Gov. Easley thought to substitute the words “my home” or “my business” for the phrase “those billboards.” Large majorities in the General Assembly obviously had considered the startling impact that change in perspective gives to the issue, which perhaps explains the large majorities in both chambers that voted for the bill and the House override.

As long as everyone talks about “those billboards,” it doesn’t seem too outrageous that cities could order a legally-erected billboard to be taken down after giving the owner a few more years to sell advertising on it. But billboards are private property, just like your home and your business. How would you feel if the city decided to put a new road through your living room and told you: “We’ve decided your house has to go. We won’t pay you anything for it, but you can continue living there until the road graders show up.”

Many billboards do contain tacky, tasteless advertising and some others do block the view. But they are private property; they were erected after the owners either purchased or leased the land on which they stand, complied with all applicable land-use laws and zoning regulations and paid good money for their construction. Is it right, then, for the city to show up and say, “We’ve decided your billboard has to go. We won’t pay you anything for it, but you can continue selling advertising on it until the road graders show up.”

Under a practice called amortization, cities in North Carolina can do just that. We’re one of only five states that give cities such power. But even here and in those four other states the federal government forbids amortization anywhere among the interstates, which in North Carolina covers 75 percent of all billboards.

The federal government doesn’t allow amortization for the taking of private property because that word isn’t in the Constitution. The Bill of Rights precludes such seizures “without just compensation.” That’s the last clause in a long sentence that also stipulates that a citizen must be indicted by a grand jury before he can be tried for a capital offense, that bars the courts from trying anyone twice for the same crime and that says you can’t be compelled to testify against yourself in court. “Just compensation” is in the famous Fifth Amendment, and the fact that the Framers gave it equal billing with those other fundamental concepts of our democracy says a lot to me.

After debating this issue for a decade, the General Assembly finally saw that point, one which, regardless of your personal opinions about billboards, simply cannot be ignored. Gov. Easley thought otherwise. -- Steve Tuttle


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