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Billboards. Cell phone towers. Roadside signs. “Big box” stores. Strip malls. The list of things that can contribute to the phenomenon known as visual blight grows every year. And no place is immune.
Whether it’s a cluster of newspaper boxes on Second Street in Lewes or digital signs with ever-changing messages along Route 1, the visual assault on the senses and on the nation’s landscape never lets up.
“Visual resources can be inventoried and visual resources can be lost. Over time, they can just erode,” said Brad Cownover, director of Scenic America’s Scenic Conservation Services.
Cownover gave an eye-opening presentation at a segment of the Managing Growth Around Lewes workshop, Nov. 6, at the Virden Conference Center.
Washington, D.C.-based Scenic America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing scenic character.
The organization works to preserve the scenic character of America’s communities and countryside, highways and byways through advocacy efforts and technical assistance. It can be an uphill battle against the powerful sign and billboard, cellular telephone and advertising industries that Blight
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say their businesses depend on combinations of location, placement or visibility to sell their products or provide service.
But Scenic America sees things differently. The organization’s motto – “Change is inevitable. Ugliness is not.” – is an indication of just how differently it sees.
Cownover showed a cartoon strip drawn by world-renowned cartoonist and Milford native R. Crumb. The strip begins with a tree-filled, bucolic setting that, panel by panel, morphs into a final picture that is filled with elements of visual blight.
Cownover said the cartoon graphically illustrates the evolution – or perhaps more accurately devolution – of a once-beautiful scenic setting. “Landscapes that we see every day, sometimes when they’re gone, they’re gone,” said Cownover.
He said studies show that maintaining trees and green, open spaces, even in urban environments, reduces crime. He said the same idea also works well in commercial and retail settings.
“Beauty sells. Ugly repels. The tourism industry knows this well,” he said.
Among tools being used to reduce visual blight is one known as Context Sensitive Solutions (CCS). CCS used in connection with roadway development requires that all stakeholders in a project be involved from the beginning to ensure that designs are in harmony with communities, preserving and enhancing environmental, scenic, aesthetic and historic resources while promoting safety and mobility.
Cownover said once in Sussex County on his drive from D.C., he noticed several areas of scenic beauty. He said the views made him think. “Either they do have protections here or they just haven’t been gotten to yet,” he said. Cownover said the Virginia state legislature is studying the economic value of the state’s visual assets. In Maryland, the State Highway Administration has established the Maryland Scenic Byways Program. It’s made up of 31 scenic routes that cover nearly 1,600 miles.
Cownover said scenic conservation can be fostered through public education, support from business communities that understand the problem and public policies that are committed to the effort. “We can shape the change. We can make good decisions or we can make bad decisions,” Cownover said. For more information about methods to prevent visual blight, and preservation of the nation’s scenic character, visit www.scenic.org.
Contact Henry Evans at hevans@capegazette.com
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