Bill aims to save ‘Hell is real’ billboard

By Ryan Alessi – ralessi@herald-leader.com

A bill designed to save a billboard declaring “Hell is real” cleared a House panel Thursday despite concerns raised by two citizens and the state Transportation Cabinet.

House Bill 536, sponsored by Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, aims to exempt non-commercial billboards — defined as those that don’t advertise products or services — that are located on private property from the state permitting process.

The bill passed the House Committee on Tourism, Development and Energy 15-1.

Bell said he filed it after a Hart County judge’s ruling regarding a billboard declaring “Hell is real,” which stands across I-65 from a billboard advertising an adult bookstore near the Upton exit.

The judge said the sign was an advertising device that didn’t meet billboard requirements as laid out by the state Transportation Cabinet, which sued the sign’s owner because it didn’t meet state permitting requirements.

“It’s our belief that the ruling made by the judge was an error,” Bell said. “If not for that, then this wouldn’t have been an issue.”

But two Kentuckians, a Louisville zoning lawyer and the head of the group Scenic Kentucky, said the bill fails to clarify the difference between commercial and non-commercial, which will likely kick disputes similar to the Hart County case into the courts.

It would create public policy headaches if a slew of new billboards popped up that weren’t permitted and would have to be regulated after the fact, said Paul B. Whitty, a Louisville attorney with a background in zoning.

“Although this may be a simple bill, it will have catastrophic results for our Kentucky landscape,” he told the committee.

Bell, a Glasgow lawyer, sought to rebut each argument. “The only thing it would really impact is private individuals on private land,” he said, adding it’s a matter of free speech. “To say that there would be signs thrown up all over the country is just a scare tactic.”

Paul Bergmann, executive director of Scenic Kentucky, said the key issue was the lack of permitting.

Private land owners can put up signs related to their property. For instance, a business can erect a sign with its name or a farm can put up a sign announcing it had corn to sell. But signs with unrelated notices, called off-premise messages, must go through official permitting processes that regulate characteristics such as size and distance from the road, Bergmann said.

“Once up, how are people to know when the messages changes from non-commercial to commercial since no permit is required?” Bergmann asked.

In addition, Geri Grigsby, chief of staff of the Transportation Cabinet, said the bill would place a greater burden on highway department staff to check on those billboards.

Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington was the lone “No” vote.

Filed Under: KY General Assembly