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Zoning Ordinance Amendment No. 2022-01 (Billboards Ordinance) <br />June 21, 2022 <br />Page 6 <br />2 <br />7 <br />3 <br />9 <br />Analysis <br />Since the adoption of Ordinance Nos. NS-1722 and NS-1915, amendments to the <br />Outdoor Advertising Act and other regulations and policies of the California Department <br />of Transportation (Caltrans), as well as changes in technology allowing digital displays on <br />billboards, have rendered many segments of the Article XII of Chapter 41 of the SAMC <br />outdated and obsolete. This status effectively prohibits construction or reconstruction of <br />new or existing billboards, as well as installation of electronic message displays. Since <br />their adoption, these ordinances have also effectively rendered existing billboards in <br />Santa Ana as legal nonconforming. <br />The California Outdoor Advertising Act, set forth in California Business and Professions <br />Code Section 5200 et seq., generally provides that compensation must be paid to <br />billboard owners for the removal, abatement, or limitation of the customary maintenance, <br />use, or repair of certain lawfully erected nonconforming billboards, except through a <br />relocation agreement. Business and Professions Code Section 5412 specifically <br />empowers a city to enter into relocation agreements on whatever terms are agreeable to <br />an outdoor advertising display owner and such city as a means of eliminating the need to <br />pay compensation for their removal from areas of the city that may be inappropriate or <br />cause blight. <br />Construction of new billboards is prohibited along highways designated as landscaped <br />freeways with certain exceptions, including the construction of relocated billboards <br />pursuant to California Business and Professions Code Section 5443.5 or the construction <br />of new billboards along portions of landscaped freeways that have been declassified. <br />Business and Professions Code Section 5412 further empowers a city to adopt <br />ordinances or resolutions providing for the relocation of billboards. However, the <br />relocation provisions contained in the current ordinance effectively prohibit relocation of <br />billboards within the City; therefore, the proposed ordinance would bring the City’s off- <br />premise commercial advertising signs ordinance into compliance with State law. <br />Improvements in technology have also allowed for the modernization of advertising by <br />way of the creation of digital messaging, which have been utilized by advertising <br />companies throughout the nation for both on- and off-premise commercial advertising <br />displays. In Santa Ana, digital on-premise advertising signs have been permitted by the <br />Zoning Code since 2014; five such displays currently exist at MainPlace, the Discovery <br />Cube, Tom’s Trucks Center, McFadden Place, and the Auto Mall and will remain <br />permitted through their respective Regional Planned Sign Program applications, pursuant <br />to SAMC Sec. 41-885. The regulations applicable to these types of on-premise digital <br />displays are reflected in the draft ordinance for off-premise digital signs, as they have <br />been proven to effectively reduce the visual impact of digital signs based on ambient <br />lighting conditions (i.e., sunny, cloudy, dawn/dusk, and nighttime brightness). <br />Should the ordinance be adopted and implemented, it is estimated that a total of 10-15 <br />new digital or converted digital billboards may be constructed along either the Santa Ana