County officials are clearing the way for three billboards to be constructed along Interstate 85 on property owned by a company headed by Rowan County Commissioner Frank
Tadlock.
County officials have notified the Department of Transportation that the billboards are exempt from a moratorium.
The Department of Transportation recently issued stop work orders on three permits, citing the moratorium on signs enacted by the Rowan County Board of Commissioners on March 19.
The advertising company, PNE Media of Columbia, S.C., applied for three new permits the day after county commissioners approved the moratorium. Unaware of the county moratorium, state officials issued three permits on March 29.
The permits involved three billboard sites that had been previously permitted. However, no construction had begun 180 days after the permits were issued and, under state regulations, expired.
After discovering the date the moratorium was enacted, district Department of Transportation officials checked with their superiors in Raleigh and issued stop work orders on the billboards.
County Planner Marion Lytle and County Manager Tim Russell said the resolution enacting the moratorium clearly stated that it would not affect any billboards or signs already in the process.
County Commissioner Arnold Chamberlain, who made the motion for the moratorium, agreed.
“Right is right, and wrong is wrong,” said Chamberlain. “If they were in the pipeline, it is the right thing to allow them.”
Earlier this month, Chamberlain questioned whether Tadlock had acted improperly in getting a sign ordinance rescinded in 1998. As a result, the county’s spacing requirement dropped from 1,000 to 500 feet, allowing the number of billboards along I-85 to nearly double.
Based on lease agreements on file with the local Department of Transportation office, the 18 billboards permitted to Tadlock or Corriher Beef & Sausage will net nearly $3 million during the 15-year contract periods. The leases on the three billboards are estimated to be worth around $500,000 over 15 years.
Chamberlain emphasized that he is not against billboards but doesn’t want to see a forest of billboards along the highways in Rowan County.
Russell and Lytle talked with state highway officials, saying the moratorium should not include the Corriher Beef & Sausage permits.
On Friday, District Department of Transportation Engineer Chris Corriher said he had received a letter from the county and that it will likely clear the way for the billboards to be constructed.
Local highway officials expressed surprise that the decision came from the county staff instead of the Board of Commissioners. “We felt it would go before the Board of Commissioners,” said
Corriher.
Corriher said he has checked with state officials in Raleigh. He said their position is that “whoever put the moratorium in effect can give special privileges.”
Russell said recently that commissioners have always gone to great lengths to ensure that moratoriums do not affect projects under way.
He cited moratoriums on race tracks and residential developments within the I-85 corridor as examples.
In all cases, the board has specified that anyone who has submitted plans or has made investments would be exempt.
Corriher and Darryl Kluttz, Department of Transportation sign coordinator for Rowan and Davidson counties, took the position that the permits were new. They point out that the billboards required new county building permits, which were also issued after the moratorium was enacted.
District officials are continuing to look at a billboard issue involving Wallace Realty.
Kluttz said the situation involving the Wallace billboard is complex. The site near Julian Road falls within the construction zone. At this point, it is unclear whether the site is in county or city of Salisbury jurisdiction.
That billboard is apparently caught either in the county or city moratorium as well as the construction project.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or jburchette@salisburypost.com
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