Salt Lake County delays billboard decision

With Cottonwood Heights on the verge of incorporating — partially because of frustration with billboard proliferation — the Salt Lake County Council resolved to vote this week on a billboard ordinance.

The idea was to clearly inform Cottonwood Heights residents of the county's position by the time (May 4) those residents decide whether to incorporate.

But Tuesday the council voted to put off voting on the fractious issue for two weeks.

"Postpone it — boy, we can do that well," Council Chairman Steve Harmsen said.

The move came after an hourlong discussion during which council members argued with, interrupted, contradicted and harangued each other over an issue that has disrupted all of their lives lately with phone calls, e-mails, emotion-laden hearings, angry constituents and energetic sign companies.

"There's a lot of sentiment," Councilman Russell Skousen said.

With the subject of billboards already a recurring problem for lawmakers at both the state and local levels, the issue has recently revived in unincorporated Salt Lake County — like a reactivated dormant volcano — due to the Cottonwood Heights vote and the recent erection of a controversial billboard in the tony Mount Olympus area.

Basically, the council is trying to decide whether to ban further billboards, period, or institute a "cap-and-bank" system whereby a company that takes down a sign in one location has a specified time (as currently proposed, three years) to seek approval for and build in another location.

Most council members are leaning toward the cap-and-bank system, which they acknowledge is contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of their constituents. Township councils and individual residents have made it clear they support an outright ban.

But as Skousen put it, "a cap-and-bank, if done correctly, can have all the advantages of a ban" while minimizing the disadvantages.

With a ban, all existing billboards would remain in place but no more would be approved. Under that system, once an existing billboard is removed — due to failed negotiations with the leaseholder, diminished site desirability or whatever reason — it's gone forever.

That, opponents to an outright ban say, ensures that billboard companies will do everything possible to hang on to the billboards they have — as several council members put it (borrowing from the National Rifle Association), "they won't let those signs go until they're pried from their cold, dead fingers."