Cooper vetoes bill that would let billboard companies cut more trees along NC roads

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Thursday that would have allowed the billboard industry to cut more trees along the state’s highways.

The bill also would have eliminated protections for redbud trees, which under current law cannot be cut on state highway right-of-way to improve the view of billboards.

In a statement announcing his decision, Cooper said “protecting North Carolina’s natural beauty should be a top priority,” and that the bill, which received final approval Wednesday, undermines that.

“North Carolina’s scenic landscapes are one of the reasons why our state just broke records with our tourism economy, and why we have one of the most beautiful places in the world to live,” he said. “Therefore, I veto the bill.”

The billboard provisions are part of House Bill 198, a larger piece of legislation known as an agency bill mostly containing changes requested by the state Department of Transportation. NCDOT did not ask for the billboard measure.

The bill would have expanded the “view zone” for each billboard. Under current state law, companies can remove trees and vegetation from up to 380 feet of the public right-of-way so that motorists can see a billboard. The bill would have set the view zone at 350 feet on roads with a speed limit of 35 mph or less and 500 feet on roads over 35 mph.

The billboard industry sought the changes because it said too many of its signs were obscured by trees growing on state property.

But environmental groups said the bill was unnecessary and would result in the loss of hundreds or thousands of trees. They said the view zone established by lawmakers in 2011 provides enough visibility for roadside signs. They also said the changes were pushed through the General Assembly without the kind of consensus developed around the earlier rules.

The North Carolina Sierra Club applauded Cooper’s veto.

“Billboard blight has no place in North Carolina, a state justifiably famous for its scenic beauty,” Erin Carey, the group’s acting director, wrote in a statement. “Today’s veto was a critical show of leadership on behalf of natural beauty and environmental stability.”

The House passed the bill a year ago by a wide margin, 108-8, but the Senate did not take it up until this spring. The Senate tinkered with the bill, though left the billboard provisions unchanged, and passed it 30-14 earlier this month.

The House approved the amended bill 65-38 on Wednesday.

Lawmakers can override a veto with support of three-fifths of those voting. The bill passed both chambers by more than that margin.

Three Republicans who head the Senate Transportation Committee issued a statement Thursday calling the bill “bipartisan, compromise legislation.”

“Gov. Cooper’s partisan veto of this bill shows he values his relationship with Green New Deal liberal advocacy groups more than implementing good policy,” they wrote. “We look forward to overriding Gov. Cooper’s latest misguided veto.”