Conway zoning appeals board denies Lamar request to repair storm-damaged billboard

The City of Conway Board of Zoning Appeals on May 22 denied an appeal by Lamar Advertising to repair a storm-damaged billboard located at the corner of Highway 378 and Roos Street after city staff advised the sign’s required relocation put the structure under different rules in the Unified Development Ordinance.

The board’s decision came after staff said the billboard, which had one pole in the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) right of way, is no longer approved in that right of way under an updated SCDOT encroachment permit and that moving the structure off the right of way would make the device a new submittal. Miss Wilkerson, a city zoning staff member, summarized the staff interpretation, saying city rules require application of UDO section 12.10.6 for nonconforming signs and that section 11.4.0.14 prohibits traditional and off-premise billboards unless they qualify under the city’s billboard replacement program.

“The billboard is no longer approved in the SCDOT right of way,” Miss Wilkerson told the board, noting the updated permit contains a directive to “notify the owner of 1…