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WHEREAS, preserving the rural character of Orange County is becoming increasingly important <br />to our local economy by helping to draw tourists, and attract and retain businesses; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County has taken great steps to preserve the natural appearance of its <br />major transportation corridors; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County would like to retain the ability to remove billboards and off-premise <br />signs through amortization; and <br />WHEREAS, courts have repeatedly upheld the legality of amortization; and <br />WHEREAS, Senate Bill 1056 would eliminate an important tool used by local governments to <br />remove billboards and require expensive and unnecessary payouts to the billboard industry for <br />their removal; <br />NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Orange County Board of Commissioners that <br />the Board opposes Senate Bill 1056 "Monetary Compensation -Outdoor Advertising" that <br />would prevent communities from amortizing billboards and other off-premise signs and require <br />local government units to compensate outdoor advertising companies up to five times the <br />annual revenue from each sign to have it removed. <br />This, the 2"d day of June 2004 <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Chair Jacobs asked Craig Benedict to forward this to the organizations that are also in <br />opposition as well as to the legislatures and the sponsors of the bill. <br />Commissioner Brown said that Orange County does not have billboards along I-40, but <br />she noticed as Mebane annexes into the County, that they are permitted within the City of <br />Mebane. She asked if this was correct and Craig Benedict said yes. There are also some <br />existing billboards along I-85/1-40 within Orange County that are not within the jurisdiction, but <br />were "grandfathered" in. He will come back with some recommendations about how these can <br />be eliminated. <br />Commissioner Brown thinks that this is one of the biggest blights on highways. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that some of these companies have also tried to illegally <br />upgrade billboards by violating county ordinances when it comes to electrical permits and <br />approval to operate the billboards. He hopes these issues would be brought to the attention of <br />this Board. He made a motion to authorize the County Attorney to take legal action against <br />these companies. <br />Craig Benedict said that they have a GPS inventory of every sign location and also <br />digital pictures to monitor their non-conformity. <br />Commissioner Brown asked if this was a joke motion and Commissioner Halkiotis said <br />yes but he wants information from Geof Gledhill. <br />7. Special Presentations <br />a. Educational Excellence Work Group Proposal <br />The Board considered approving a proposal from the UNC School of Education that <br />would provide research and analysis about the resources available to the two school systems in <br />Orange County and authorizing the Chair to sign. <br />