By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab County may become the scene of roadside
billboards if the public agrees with the planning commission
that such advertising should be an allowed use.
March 11, at 6:30 p.m., the Juab County Commission
will hold a public hearing to determine what the residents
of the county think about the ordinance change.
Greg Ingram, Nephi, has been seeking a change in the
county ordinance which, at present, prohibits
billboards.
"You can't zone for billboards," said Ingram, "you
have to do that as part of a comprehensive plan."
Federal law does state that all billboards must be in
either a commercial/industrial zone or within 1 1/2 miles of
an interchange along the interstate freeway.
"Spot zoning to allow billboards is against the law,"
said Ingram.
He said federal and state law set the standards for
billboards and their placement.
For example, he said, usage must be within 600-feet of
an industrial property.
Ingram said that his interest is in erecting a few
billboards within the allowed 1 1/2 mile space near a
freeway interchange.
Glenn Greenhalgh, county planning commission director,
said the planning commission discussed the proposal and
recommended to the commission that the prohibition be
removed from the county zoning ordinance.
"As long as we follow state law," said Robert Steele,
commissioner, "I have no problem with that."
Greenhalgh said the commission would need to advertise
the public hearing in the newspaper and would need to remove
the prohibition concerning billboards from the zoning
ordinance.
"All you have to do is remove one sentence," he said.
"The zoning ordinance does not have to be re-written."
Following that process, the commission will have to
look at the general plan for the county and make certain the
wording is right in that document.
After that is accomplished, a landowner must make
application for the zone change for his/her property.
The legal process must be followed for that change in
zone which includes a public hearing. After the application
is approved and the zone is changed, the zoning map is
amended.
"Somebody has to have an interest in having a
billboard on their property before action is taken," said
Greenhalgh.
Ingram said his interest was in placing signs along
the I-15 corridor where federal regulations must be
followed. He said 132 was a state road and 148 was in the
control of the county.
Ingram said Lady Byrd Johnson, when her husband was
president, began the program of controlling the allowed
spaces for billboard advertising.
There are hurdles still to be jumped, said Greenhalgh.
"It is not a 'done today finished tomorrow' proposition," he
said.
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