Item 67 - Zoning Ordinance Amendment No. 2022-01 (Billboards Ordinance)

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Zoning Ordinance Amendment No. 2022-01 (Billboards Ordinance) June 21, 2022 Page 2 2 7 3 9 the operating agreement template, and to incentivize local hiring from Santa Ana residents, which have been incorporated into the draft ordinance in Section 41-1113 and into the Economic and Community Benefits Plan segment in Section 1 of the draft Operating Agreement template that is described in further detail on page 5 of this report. DISCUSSION Background and Existing Conditions Article XII of the Zoning Code was first adopted in 1984 (Ordinance NS-1722), allowing and regulating off-premise commercial advertising signs (billboards) subject to certain location and development standards. In 1987, the City Council adopted Ordinance NS- 1915 to amend and update billboard regulations by excluding such advertising signs from “Critical Development Areas” and “Improvement Areas,” which restricted billboard placement in many areas of the City. Beginning in 2017, the City Council directed staff to explore updating the existing billboard ordinance to allow for new digital billboards and the conversion (reconstruction) of existing billboards to digital displays subject to providing net economic and community benefits that may include public service announcements, reduction of existing static billboards within the City, and revenue sharing. Areas of exploration for new digital billboards included freeway corridors, Downtown parking structures, and the Santa Ana Stadium. Following this evaluation, in November 2018, staff provided feedback on the research to the former Economic, Development, Infrastructure, Budget & Technology (EDIBT) Committee in place at the time to proceed with regulations allowing digital billboards along freeways within City limits. The City of Santa Ana Public Works Agency is in a concurrent process to enter into an agreement with a vendor for the installation of digital billboards and other digital advertisements on City-owned sites along freeways, major roadways, bus shelters, and City-owned parking structures in Downtown. This agreement was subject to separate consideration by the City Council and approved with modifications on April 19, 2022. However, the development regulations drafted for the agreement are consistent with those proposed by the ordinance that is the subject of this request. There are currently 92 billboard structures in Santa Ana for off-premise advertising. These billboards are all static (non-digital) and are located along freeways and roadways, such as at major intersections and on major arterials. The existing billboards range in size, with small, medium, and large displays; displays with or without external illumination; and displays that are either single- or double-sided. Nearly all of the existing off-premise billboards are legal nonconforming because they are located in areas identified as “Critical Development Areas” and “Improvement Areas” on a map adopted in 1987, and because of their size, location, and lack of billboard permit. Because the proposed ordinance would allow only digital billboards, these existing static