THANKS FOR YOUR REPONSE.  SEE YOU ON 9/8/09.

 

Our “What’s Hot” page gives you background information, i.e., Scenic San Antonio’s comparison of the existing ordinance with the independent study on the national level, as well as the results from the public comment period on the Pilot Digital Billboard Ordinance.  The response against more digital billboards – or any new billboards - was overwhelming!  You may wish to check out our “News Happenings in San Antonio” page as well.  The first reference is to the San Antonio Current blog of 6/11/09, with references to past history of the Pilot Program.

 

Next steps?  The City staff will take all the input from the public meetings, plus some analysis from the City’s legal department, and present it to the City Council sometime in September or October.  We’ll let you know when that is to occur.

 

Meanwhile, we hope to see you and your friends at a meeting arranged by the American Institute of Architects, San Antonio Chapter.  Readers of our site generally don’t like billboards.  This meeting will help you understand how they detract from good urban design.

 

            Tuesday, September 8, 2009

            6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

            Center for Architecture, near Pearl Brewery

            200 E. Grayson, #110, in the Full Goods Building

 

 

THE CASE AGAINST MORE BILLBOARDS

 

1.    Off-premise billboards* do not make economic sense for the City of San Antonio

 

Nobody comes to San Antonio to see billboards.  To quote from “B.B. Control is Good for Business” a five-year study of 35 cities by the Mississippi Research and Development Center concluded that “The way a community looks affects how both the residents and visitors feel about it.  An attractive community has a better chance at industry, including tourism.”  Remember, tourism is the second largest “business” in San Antonio.

 

San Antonio needs to become competitive with other Texas cities.  All major Texas cities except San Antonio ban new billboards, including digitals; in fact, more than 250 cities across the state ban new bilboards.  If San Antonio does nothing, it is in danger of being the “dumping ground” for billboards.  Bans do work.  Houston has achieved a 55% reduction in billboards.

 

Off-premise billboards generate little income for the City of San Antonio, i. e.

·         Billboard companies pay no sales taxes.

·         There is a double standard for valuing billboards - Billboard companies pay a minimum amount in property taxes; yet if a sign were condemned for road widening, the current valuation system allows the billboard companies to be compensated based upon the full value of their signs.

 

The military mission in San Antonio could be jeopardized by a weak “Dark Skies” ordinance.  The ordinance does not mandate conservative lighting standards and it allows billboards to be brighter than the surrounding area.  The military would have to re-evaluate its location if lighting escalates unacceptably because of increased development.

 

2.    Off-premise billboards offend our sense of the historic and scenic features of San Antonio.

 

When given the opportunity, the public will support a ban against new billboards, as demonstrated by the fact that no urban and scenic corridors allow new construction.  This was determined through an extensive public input process.  The recently completed public review process of the Pilot Digital Billboard Ordinance by City staff confirms this public sentiment.

 

3.    Digital billboards may be unsafe for the driving public.

 

The first phase of the federal study has been released.  The prior City Council did not wait for the study.  Now, the City is faced with a dilemma.  The study recommendations are at variance with at least two parts of the City code about digitals

·         San Antonio should have used a different formula for determining the “dwell time,” the amount of time a message remains on the screen.

·         San Antonio allows digital billboards to be erected at busy interchanges.

 

Studies of specific locations in the country will be available in the spring of 2010.  Meanwhile, the City has on its hands a digital regulatory ordinance whose standards are questionable.

 

4.  Digital billboards contradict the stated energy goals of the City of San Antonio to reduce energy consumption.

 

They generate noise pollution, heat pollution, light pollution, pollution from manufacturing and disposal of signs themselves, and those billboards that are not powered by Windtricity create carbon pollution.

 

 5.    Banning more billboards, including digitals, can be upheld by the courts.

 

Paraphrasing the ruling by the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, which has not been overruled,

·         The regulation of outdoor advertising for aesthetic purposes alone constitutes a valid exercise of the city’s police power.

·         The commonsense judgments of local lawmakers that billboards are real and substantial hazards to traffic safety are reasonable.

     

6.      Allowing more digitals in a “take down” program is not as effective as placing a ban on all new billboard construction, including allowing new digitals for the removal of some older billboards.

 

Regulation Scenarios