Company wants ordinance changed
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Staff Writer larry@gaffneyledger.com

There could be more billboards popping up if an outdoor advertising company gets its way.

Daisy Outdoor Advertising representative Joey Lemmons requested the Cherokee County Planning Commission recommend the county amend its land use regulation ordinance to exempt billboards from the minimum lot size requirement.

The land use regulation requires lot sizes to be at least .5 acres. Lemmons wants the minimum lot size for billboards reduced to .1 acres.

Lemmons argues that billboards should be exempt from the minimum lot requirement like public utilities, including water, sewer and electricity.

Planning commission members asked Cherokee County Building Official Chuck Bobo to research how surrounding counties' land use regulations dealt with billboards. Bobo said Spartanburg was the only county to specifically address billboards. Spartanburg County land use regulations didn't require a minimum lot size for billboards.

"Other ordinances appeared to have the same situation as Cherokee in that it is not addressed specifically in their respective Land Development Regulations," Bobo said in a memo to Planning commission members.

The issue has come to the forefront since Daisy Outdoor Advertising wants to purchase property near Henson Road in Blacksburg and subdivide it into four .05-acre lots for four billboards. The company has sought a variance from the Cherokee County Board of Appeals to record the deed.

The appeals board was expected to hear the variance request at its meeting on Thursday, but the board rescheduled the hearing for a lack of a quorum.