Voters to decide Corridor X zoning bill
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Walker County voters will go to the polls November
2 to decide if they want to create a zoning board for the county's stretch of Corridor X, which is nearing completion.
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ED HOWELL
The Daily Mountain Eagle
Published June 14, 2003 10:36 PM CDT
Walker County voters will go to the polls next year to decide if they want to create a zoning board for the county's
stretch of Corridor X, which local officials hope will limit billboards, make structures look more uniform, and
prevent traffic congestion on the proposed interstate.
The bill creating such a board pending a county referendum got final approval in the Alabama Senate on Tuesday,
according to the state Legislature's Web site. The House approved the bill, on April 8. No negative votes were
recorded in either chamber.
"It basically allows for limited zoning along Corridor X," said state Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill,
who co-sponsored the bill with state Rep. Tommy Sherer. "In the long-term it will be a beneficial effect.
This is a really positive step. We're going to see tremendous growth."
"We're told this is the first time Alabama has had a chance to control billboards along a new interstate,"
said Jasper Mayor Don Goetz, who is also a member of the billboard subcommittee of the Corridor X Task Force. "It's
a chance for Alabama to be ahead of the curve."
The bill could be used to prevent Corridor X from clogging up with traffic as Highway 78 and Highway 118 does,
and would maintain the natural beauty of the area, said Steve Ostaseski, who handles transportation matters for
the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. Goetz said Ostaseski has also performed much legwork for
the Corridor X Task Force, which he said has become active in temporarily delaying more billboards for the corridor.
Ostaseski cannot take a position on a referendum as a staff member of the RPC and stressed the decision would
be up to the voters of Walker County. However, he said there are few examples of such a board elsewhere and that
it could be a groundbreaking action for interstate situations. Goetz said the action could even be copied nationally
in time.
"We can be unique," Ostaseski said. "Instead of being 50th, we could be first."
"This is something others have only looked at," said Guin. "I think we'll be the first to do
it."
Goetz said while the city of Jasper has zoning, the rural areas of Walker County do not. Even then, Goetz said
some groups have pointed out Highway 78 and Highway 118 in Jasper as examples of ugliness that results when not
enough zoning takes place.
Ostaseski said while Jefferson County has zoning, Marion County does not. However, Guin and Goetz said they
are hopeful Marion County could later form a similar authority with their own act. At the next meeting of the Corridor
X Task Force on Sept. 4 in Hamilton, officials from Mississippi will be invited to attend to also encourage them
to follow do the same, Goetz said.
Guin said Marion County was not included because he already had drawn up a bill for Walker County and because
going regional would have then required a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment.
State Rep. Mike Millican, who represents Marion County, could not be reached for comment.
The Walker County bill, HB 47, would form a nine-member Corridor X Parkway Authority, which would have authority
in the county and would be appointed by majority vote among the county's three legislators. All would be qualified
voters and residents of the county, but could not hold other public office. The first board would have terms staggered,
with three members each getting either one-, two-, or three-year terms.
The board's name would be changed in case the limited access highway is designated an interstate. The Walker
County Commission would reimburse expenses and administrative support.
"The authority may exercise zoning authority outside the state's right-of-way within one mile of any interchange
on a limited access highway and within one-half mile of the state's right-of-way along any limited access highway
in Walker County," according to the bill.
Authority would be given to the board to provide for the uniformity of landscaping and roadside design, land
use, limitation and uniformity of landscaping and roadside design, land use, limitation and uniformity of signs,
and the regulation of the outward physical features of buildings and structure. The new authority would have higher
authority in any conflict with other zoning authorities.
Guin pointed out the bill would only affect new uses.
"It grandfathers in every current use of property," he said.
The timing of a referendum is not certain, and Guin said he would have to check this week to make sure. However,
he thinks it might have to be held during a general election, which would be in 2004. Guin also said a resolution
possibly could be passed in the Legislature to set the election for the presidential primary next year.
A special election would be too costly, as it might cost $50,000, he said.
"I wouldn't call a special election just for this," Guin said.
Officials have essentially worked for 35 years to build a major highway, but will have thrown away $1 billion
without a mechanism to put in controls for access and preserve the integrity of the surrounding nature, Ostaseski
said.
Ostaseski said the issue of road access is important, as too much of it leads to traffic repeatedly stopping
and backing up to turn off. Having Corridor X will be of no use if key interchanges are clogged up as in the past.
"A lot of places along Highway 78 have a driveway out for every business' frontal property," he said.
Better management calls for access to be made available but to spread them out to relieve congestion, Ostaseski
said.
However, he also said it would allow better control on buildings and signs so the road doesn't become an urban
blight.
"We can still naturally landscape the area without compromising economic development. They don't have to
be mutually exclusive," Ostaseski said.
The act, if adopted, would essentially allow Walker County to make long-term planning for Corridor X along 60
miles set in the county, Guin said, noting the limitations on repeated uses of billboards. He and Goetz noted the
well-known proliferation of billboards as drivers head for the Gulf Coast of Alabama.
Goetz also pointed to Interstate 65 in Cullman as having numerous "double-decked" billboards. He compared
that to the New England area, where state transportation officials control the billboards to a limited number.
"And people still do business up there," Goetz said. "I did not see a billboard in the state
of Maine."
While there would still be some state signs and business signs, billboards could virtually be eliminated, and
businesses would have limits on details such as the height of signs and how the buildings are constructed. He pointed
out such details have been successfully incorporated in other areas, even by chain stores.
Goetz said the 40-member Corridor X Task Force has given support for this action, as well as the billboard committee
Goetz chairs. He pointed out the task force is made up of public officials, business leaders, and community leaders.
Minutes showed the task force also agreed on April 3 to send a letter to the state Department of Transportation.
The April 21 letter from the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments and the RPC, made on behalf of the
task force, requested the state Department of Transportation postpone issuing any billboard permits on the corridor
for one year, starting April 1.
"This period should allow sufficient opportunity for all town, city and county governments to be fully
involved in the Management and Development Plan, and determine an equitable approach to sign control in this most
important transportation corridor," the letter said.
Goetz said the state has replied that it would abide by that request.
If the election is held in November 2004, that would allow the deadline to expire months earlier. However, Guin
said he felt confident any moratorium could be extended until the general election.
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