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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 9053 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL COM- MITTEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF FORMULATING AND REPORTING TO THE CITY COUNCIL AS EXPEDITIOUSLY AS POSSIBLE ITS RECOMMENDA- TIONS RELATING TO REVISING CITY ORDINANCES AND REGULATIONS TO PROVIDE FOR MORE ADEQUATE CONTROLS ON THE NUMBER, SIZE, LIGHTING, SPACING, LOCATION AND PERMITTING OF OFF-PREMISE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING SIGNS IN THE CITY OF FORT WORTH; PROHIBITING FOR A PERIOD NOT TO EXCEED NINETY (90) DAYS THE ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS AND THE ISSUANCE OF SIGN PERMITS FOR THE ERECTION OR ALTERATION OF OFF-PREMISE COM- MERCIAL ADVERTISING SIGNS PENDING CONSIDERATION BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE AND THE CITY COUNCIL OF REVISIONS TO THE CITY ORDINANCE AND REGULATIONS; PROVIDING FOR A METHOD OF REPEAL OF THIS ORDINANCE; PROVIDING FOR CUMULATION AND SUSPENSION OF OTHER ORDINANCES; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth is a home rule municipal corpo- ration organized and existing by virtue of the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas and by its Charter adopted by the electorate in December 1924; and WHEREAS, under Article 1175, Vernon's Revised Civil Statutes, home rule cities are given the power "...to license, regulate, con- trol or prohibit the erection of signs or bill boards as may be pro- vided by charter or ordinance"; and WHEREAS, pursuant to this power, the City of Fort Worth has adopted a City Sign Code (Ordinance No. 7247, as amended), which regulates the erection, size, lighting and permitting of signs and billboards; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth also regulates the location, spacing, size and lighting of signs and billboards under its Compre- hensive Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance No. 3011, as amended); and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth is experiencing a recent pro- liferation of off-premise commercial advertising signs in all areas of the City; and WHEREAS, recently the number of applications received for the permitting of off-premise commercial advertising signs has greatly increased; and WHEREAS, the current ordinances and regulations governing off- premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth are inadequate to control the proliferation of these signs throughout the City of Fort Worth; and WHEREAS, the increasing number of off-premise commercial adver- tising signs erected within the City of Fort Worth could adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Fort Worth; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires that a special committee be created to formulate and report to the City Council as expeditiously as possible its recommendations relating to proposed amendments to the Sign Code, the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and any and all other ordinances and regulations governing off-premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the valid exercise of police powers granted under Article 1175, Vernon's Revised Civil Statutes, the City Council deems it imperative to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the acceptance of applications for or the issuance of permits for the erection or alteration of off-premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth, pending the expeditious considera- tion by the committee and the City Council of the question of amend- ing the Sign Code, the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and any and all other ordinances and regulations governing off-premise commer- cial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth; NOW, THEREFORE; BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXA5: SECTION 1. That there is hereby created a special committee to be composed of three members of the City Council, to be appointed by the City Council, for the purpose of reviewing current ordinances and regulations governing off-premise commercial advertising signs and -2- ~. ., r ,r reporting to the City Council as expeditiously as possible its recommendations relating to proposed amendments to the Sign Code (Ordinance No. 7247, as amended), the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance No. 3011, as amended) and any and all other ordinances and regulations governing off-premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth. SECTION 2. That pursuant to the valid exercise of police power granted the City under Article 1175, Vernon's Revised Civil Statutes, the accep- tance of applications and the issuance of permits for the erection or alteration of off-premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth shall be prohibited for a period of ninety (90) days from the effective date of this ordinance or until this ordi- nance is repealed, whichever occurs first, so that the special committee and the City Council may expeditiously review the question of amending the Sign Code, the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and any and all other ordinances and regulations governing off-premise commercial advertising signs in the City of Fort Worth. The purpose of this prohibition is to maintain the status quo of off-premise commercial advertising signs within the City until such time as the proposed amendments can be considered by the speci,~l committee and the City Council. SECTION 3. That all of the declarations and findings contained in the pre- amble of this ordinance are made a part hereof and shall be fully effective as part of the ordained subject matter of this ordinance. SECTION 4. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect until such time as the City Council adopts an ordinance repealing same or until ninety (90) days from the effective date of this ordinance, whichever occurs first. -3- r G f ~ ~ ~- SECTION 5. That this ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1964), as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event, such conflicting provisions of such ordinances and Code are hereby suspended for the period during which this ordi- nance is in effect. SECTION 6. That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared void, ineffective or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or final decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffec- tiveness or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remain- ing phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation herein of any such void, ineffec- tive or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. SECTION 7. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: ~~ City Attorney Date : 3 ' ~` ° ~ ~ ADOPTED: ~-aQ - ~ 7 EFFECTIVE: -4- i ~, .I ~; ^V~ O~ ~V~ r. VrV~Q I, ~ ~~ ~ '~ ,I~ r ~ ,. ..~~ ;.j POLICY PROPOSAL DATE ~ FILE NUMBER ~ SUBJECT Review of Sign and Billboard ~ PAGE 1 OF 3 I 3(20/84 C.P. I10 Regulations f PROPOSAL PROPOSED BY Council Listed Below MANAGER'S RE Baj ';", Over the years, the number of billboards in the City of Fort Worth has stead- ily increased. Approximately six billboard permits are being issue3 per month, for an average of 72 new billboards per year. Placed along a major freeway under the existing spacirr3 limitations, these seventy-two new bill- boards would stretch. over seven miles. At present, the issuance of sign permits for billboards is governed by two City ordinances. The Sign Code, enacted as Ordinance No. 7247, attests to regulate structural and sight hazards, projections over public property, arr3 setbacks, ar~d provides for legal, nonconforming use until the sign is remnved by the owner. Zoning Ordinance No. 3011 further regulates the placement of billboards according to zoning classification, and upholds State standards for spacing of billboards and placement near parks and schools. The Zoning Ordinance also provides for the removal of abandoned or diswntinued signs. These combined regulations place some controls on billboards but do very little try limit the prolif- eret.,i~~a of ~igr~,~, c~her than through spacing limitations . The State law currently requires that billboards along freeways be a minirrnrn of 500 feet apart. On sore freeways, such as Highway 80 West arr3 the Airport Freeway, this requirement effectively rules out additional billboards-nearly all the available slots are filled. With the widening of interstate highways passing through Fbrt Worth, many existing billboards will have try be removed to acca~rnr~date highway construction. The Federal Highway Beautification Act appears to require reimbursement for billboards removed along federal high- ways, and under this provision, the State of Texas has previously paid $10,000 and upward per sign in reimbursement costs. Therefore, the erection of each new sign contributes to the administrative difficulties and increases the oost~of widening these highways. Many sign operators, looking ahead too this oonstructicn phase, are already relocating their billboards along other major thoroughfares. The current spacing limitation for City thoroughfares is one sign every 100 feet. Stated ~re graphically, this spacing would permit fifty-twc~ billboards per mile, so that a driver traveling at a rate of 45 miles per hour would view a billboard every second and a half. Given this degree of latitude and the impending upheaval along interstate highways, the number of billboards within permitted zoning classificatioa~s along City thoroughfares may increase dramatically within the next several months. LEGALITY FISCAL NOTE LS CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS ['~ POLICY PROPOSAL (cont'd) PAGE ~ OF ~ In arder to revise the City's regulation of billboards, City staff would need to conduct extensive research into recent developments in this area of regu- lotion. Uncertainty aver the rights of the billboard industry has generated considerable activity in the courts. The Texas Court of Civil Appeals held in 1978 that cities may enforce "reasonable" amortization schedules for the remval of billboards which have been rendered nonconforming. In July 1981, the U.S. Supreme Court in a close decision with no majority opinion labeled the San Diego, California ordinance unconstitutional on its face; the San Diego ordinance discriminated between carmercial and non-commercial mes- sages. After the ten-year arrortizatiai period for nonconforming billboards expired in May 1983, one of the largest billboard firms cited the San Diego decision to challenge the constitutionality csf the Dallas ordinance. This suit, and a second similar suit filed by the Small Business az Premise Sign Foundatirn of Texas, are to be heard in the U. S. District Court. These recent cases and the pending case in Dallas point out the need for thoroughly researching the legal implications should the City of Fort Worth choose to more strictly regulate billboards. Proposal It is proposed that the City Council of the City of Fort Worth adopt the attached ordinance, appointing a special committee of the City Council to consider, for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days, the City's regulation of billboards. To prevent any worsening of the problem while this committee deliberates, the ordinance provides that the Department of Development be instructed, effective immediately: 1) Not to issue any permits for erection or alteration of off-premise cam~~ercial advertising signs for whic3~ applications are already az file; and 2) Nat to accept any additional permit applications for erection or alteration of off-premise ornmercial advertising signs. ~ ~~~ :3 ~ ~'" ~"~ f i~. ~ a E1n tM,s `~ !~-l~ ~.uJ -}~~ ~e ~ 61~c~.1~MCUn.e~ ^ _p~ t~~~4 alit ~~~~~ The City Attorney has reviewed this proposal and there are no krx~wn legal impediments. Fiscal Note If this proposal were adopted, it is estimated that revenue from sign permit fees in the amount of $?, 200 would be lost. City Manager's CamTtients The municipal regulation of signs and billboards is a problem that exists in Trost cities throughout the country. Because of sign and billboard prolif- eration in Fort Worth, we strongly concur with this policy proposal. PITV A! lApT WAOTY ~ ~. ~AGEr3 OF 3 POl1CY PROPOSAL (cont'd~ Louis J. Zapata, District 2 Dwaine Johnson, District 3 Russell Lancaster, Distrrict 4 Richard C. Newkirk, District 7 kcq Adopted Ordinance flo. Kathy Wetherby, District 6 Herman F. Stute, District 9 APPROVED DY CITY COUNC~~ MAR 2Q 1984 City Secretary of the City of ~ ,~p=~ CITY OF FORT WORTH