TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on billboards and provide guidance on the proposed changes to the City’s billboard regulations. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On December 1, 2009, the City Council instituted a one-year moratorium via minute order, temporarily halting the approval of permits for billboards Citywide. This moratorium included new billboards, “supergraphic” signs, and conversion of existing billboards into electronic or digital billboards. The moratorium subsequently was extended for another year on December 7, 2010. This moratorium expires December 14, 2011. During the moratorium, Department of Development Services staff has conducted studies of other cities’ billboard regulations, held several community meetings, and three study sessions with the Planning Commission. Staff also has met extensively with the outdoor advertising industry to obtain their participation in the process.
The product of these efforts is a new understanding of the billboard situation facing the City, as well as a more thorough familiarity with State law governing outdoor advertising, which limits the City’s ability to regulate this industry. Staff has identified several major goals for the City Council to consider with regards to a new ordinance regulating billboards:
· Modernize regulations to anticipate and adequately control billboard development in the future.
· Provide incentives for the removal of the nonconforming billboards within the City, especially those in residential areas and other inappropriate locations, resulting in the ultimate removal of all nonconforming billboards from within the City within a time span of less than a decade.
· Deal with the question of electronic/digital billboards, both new and converted from existing billboards, in a City where none currently exist.
Staff has prepared a map showing the proliferation of billboards throughout the City (Exhibit A - Citywide Billboard Location Map). If the City Council so directs, st...
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