HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-06-19; City Council; 7173-3; Prohibition of signs on Public Property0
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4B# 7173-#3
JITG. 6/19/84
IEPT. CA
CITY- F CARLSBAD - AGENDA-ILL
TITLE: PROHIBITION OF SIGNS
ON PUBLIC PROPERTY
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RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council by motion initiate hearings before the Planning Commission to amend the sign regulations to restore the ban of political signs from public property. 4.
ITEM EXPLANATION
The United States Supreme Court in Taxpayers for Vincent has ruled in favor of cities and their ability to prohibit the posting of
signs on public property. The decision allows the City Council to
reinstitute its long standing ban on such signs. A memorandum from our office to the Mayor and Council, dated May 30, 1984 explaining the matter in detail is attached. Also attached are the regulations for political signs which the City Council adopted in 1982 and Ordinance No. g /oZ which would make two changes to those regulations to reinstitute the ban on political signs on public property.
If the City Council wishes to do that your action is, by motion, to
public hearing. ask the Planning Commission to set Ordinance No. 210 a to
FISCAL IMPACT
None
EXHIBITS
Memorandum from City Attorney to Mayor and City Council dated
May 30, 1984 Regulations for political signs adopted in 1982
Ordinance No. 8/0 a
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4 May 30, 1984
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: City Attorney
POLITICAL SIGNS
This memorandum is to report on a U.S.Supreme Court decision
which allows the Council to reinstitute Carlsbad's long standing ban on signs in the public right-of-way.
In mid-1982, the City Council directed our office to prepare a detailed memorandum on the regulation of political signs in the City of Carlsbad and our ability to summarily abate signs located in the public right-of-way. In response to that memorandum the City Council, in December of 1982, adopted Ordinance No. 8097. The ordinance adopted a detailed procedure for the removal of illegal signs including the summary abatement of signs in the public right-of-way and adopted extensive regulations of political signs. A copy of the agenda bill, ordinance, and our memorandum are attached for your information.
Section 18.20.050 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code prohibits all signs on public property. That law had been in effect for years in Carlsbad. However, because of the case of Taxpayers for Vincent which invalidated a similar law in Los Angeles, the Council, on our advice added section 21.41.140 to the municipal code to allow political campaign signs in the public right-of-way subject to certain conditions. On May 15, 1984, the United State Supreme Court upheld the ordinance of the City of Los Angeles.
The court ruled that Los Angeles' prohibition of the posting of signs on public property did not abridge the first amendment
right to free speech. The court recognized that a city has a weighty, essentially esthetic interest in proscribing intrusive and unpleasant formats for expression and that the visual assault on the citizens of Los Angeles presented by an accumulation of signs posted on public property constituted a significant substantive evil within the city's power to prohibit. This decision means that the Council may now reinstitute your long standing ban of all signs in the public right-of-way.
We have prepared an agenda bill directing the Planning Commission to institute a public hearing necessary to restore the ban on campaign signs in the public right-of-way. If any member of the Council wishes to consider this matter, please ask the City Manager to place it on the City Council agenda at the earliest possible time. We suggest that it be done as soon as possible in order to allow sufficient time for Planning Commission and City Council hearings, first and second reading and the 30 day period before it can become effective, all to occur prior to the August
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date for candidate's filings for the municipal election to be held in November. We make that suggestion because it is the City
Clerk's practice to furnish a copy of the City's sign ordinance to prospective candidates when they take out their papers. This eliminates any confusion over the sign regulations that apply in
the City of Carlsbad. It seems to us that it would be desirable to have the ordinance adopted and effective in time to do that.
rmh attachments
c: city Clerk
VINCENT F. BIONDO, JR. City Attorney
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