September 8, 2009: American Institute of Architects, the San Antonio Chapter, to host meeting about good urban design and billboards. Continuing education credit will be offered to architects, but the meeting is open to all who care about how San Antonio looks.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009, from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Center for Architecture, near Pearl Brewery
200 E. Grayson, Suite 110, in the Full Goods Building
June 22 – July 16, 2009: Five Public Meetings Held by City about the Pilot Digital Billboard Ordinance
From 55% to 81% of those attending said they did not want any new ordinance which would allow more digital off-premise billboards. In addition, 91% of the approximately 130 other responses received by City staff said they did not want any more digital billboards – in fact many said no new billboards of any kind.
March 19, 2009: Zoning Commission approves process to apply “Dark Skies” around Camp Bullis
The process was approved to apply the Military Lighting Overlay District to all properties within three (3) miles of the exterior border of the Camp Bullis Training Site and within the City boundary. When asked why the distance was not five miles, the staff responded that some of the properties that are captured by the 3 mile radius extend beyond the 3 mile limit. To another inquiry, staff responded that properties between the 3 and 5 mile limit could be subject to the overlay district if there are requests to do so.
January 27, 2009: Staff Report on the Pilot Program on Digital Billboards
Staff provided a written report to City Council, recommending that the evaluation period for the Pilot Program on Digital Billboards be extended through October 2009. The pilot program ended on December 16, 2008. Thirteen digital off-premise billboards have replaced 13 regular billboards, many of them in the Scenic Corridors of San Antonio.
The rationale used by staff is that this extended evaluation period will give the staff time to compare the average number of accidents per year for the two years before digital sign installation. Staff will then evaluate the pilot program with the vehicular traffic accident data and report to City Council.
Please read the letter from Jerry Wachtel on page one of "News Happening in San Antonio" to see why this makes no sense.
City Council upgrades electrical regulations on 1/15/09 and in the process
changes the former Electrical Supervisory Board into an appeal board, giving staff full authority over the implementation of the electrical code – including billboards. Scenic San Antonio assumed that Chapter 28, the ordinance that deals with billboards and has many references to the Electrical Supervisory Board, would be changed as well. We have asked staff how Chapter 28 will be applied, now that Chapter 10 has been changed. Staff said that the Electrical Board will be scheduled to meet whenever the Director of Planning and Development Services needs advice on issues dealing with either Chapter 10 or Chapter 28. Meetings will be held at least quarterly and posted and open for public comment. We also asked about the role of the Electrical Board and were told that appeals to actions of the Director regarding his interpretation and enforcement of Chapter 10 may come before the Electrical Board. The Board’s action on that appeal may be appealed to City Council. And, appeals to actions of the Director when interpreting and enforcing Chapter 28 may be appealed directly to City Council as well.
Results of the San Antonio City Council Meeting of 12/11/08
City Council approved the “Dark Skies” Amendment to Chapter 35 of the City Code, by adding Section 35-339.04 “Military Lighting Overlay Districts” to Article III, Division 4 “Overlay Districts” and adding Section 35-498 “Violations of Military Lighting Overlay Districts Regulations” to Article IV, Division 11 “Enforcement, Violations and Penalties”.
It sets lighting guidelines for on- and off-premise signs, including digital ones. Currently there is only one off-premise digital billboard located in the Camp Bullis overlay area. It is located on FM 1604, and Clear Channel has offered to make it compliant with the new lighting specifications. The sign generator may use lighting standards of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America or The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards (LEED), which minimize the impact of light generation. However LEED standards are optional.
Results of the Zoning Commission Meeting of 11/18/08
The Zoning Commission unanimously disapproved sending the “dark skies” ordinance forward. We note that in the latest draft of the ordinance, the wording cleverly avoids mentioning this fact. Check the “whereas” section of the ordinance.
Zoning Commission Recommendation:
The motion was made by Commissioner Wright and seconded by Commissioner Sherrill to recommend this ordinance be taken back to the working group and that the working group be extended to some neighborhood associations as well as the military, and that this ordinance and its continuous drafts be updated and posted on the front page of the website so that citizens may be educated and can ask questions. Also, the motion recommended that this ordinance not be returned to the Zoning Commission until it has been presented to TAC (Planning Commission’s Technical Advisory Committee), and the JLUS (Joint Land Use Study) for their recommendations.
Results of the Infrastructure and Growth Council Committee Meeting of 11/19/08
The result of this Committee’s action is to leave digital off-premise signage in the “dark skies” ordinance, even though the City Council has yet to take action on whether or not to extend the Pilot Program. We hear that this City Council does not want any public meetings about this topic and prefer to leave it to the next City Council. Further, by making the more environmentally friendly LEED lighting standards optional, billboard companies will not be required to follow them.
In addition, The Committee, except for council woman Galvan, voted to:
a. Modify the role of the Dept. of Planning & Development Services staff. It will administer Chapter 10, the electrical code, without input from the Electrical Supervisory Board in its former role.
b. Eliminate the current role of the Electrical Supervisory Board, i. e. the Board can no longer overrule staff decisions. Now, if one wants to appeal a staff decision, one must pay an administrative fee of about $150 to do so, after the fact.
Rod Sanchez recommended that the ordinance not address the make up of the new Electrical Board. The new draft is a combination of the prior drafts dealing with administration and technology.
