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Planning Department reports progress, warns of relocation risks in general advertising sign program
Summary
Planning Department staff told the Planning Commission the city's general advertising sign program has mapped and screened the inventory of signs, removed hundreds and collected increased penalties, while public testimony urged caution over relocation agreements that could create new billboards despite Prop G.
The Planning Department presented its fifth annual general advertising sign program report to the San Francisco Planning Commission on April 19, 2012, detailing inventory, enforcement and revenue from the effort created after voters approved Proposition G in 2002.
Staff said the department now maintains a searchable map and photo inventory of recognized legal general advertising signs and that, after citywide screening and enforcement, 860 signs were recognized as legally installed. Staff reported 733 signs removed over the five years of the program and said 66 signs were the subject of new complaints between Feb. 1, 2011 and March 15, 2012. The department also reported it collected $178,003.94 in penalties in the referenced year and $197,546 in maintenance fees, and that penalties this year are projected to increase by roughly $70,000.
"We ended up with a database of every general ad sign in the city, legal or otherwise," Planning Department presenter said (Speaker 12). He described a multi-year screening, notices of violation, administrative hearings and a settlement with Fuel Outdoor that includes removal or relocation options for Metro Fuel panel signs and potential payments to the city.
In public comment, Milo Henke, past president of San Francisco Beautiful, praised the department's enforcement but urged more transparency and caution about relocations. "Illegal billboards keep coming in into town," Henke said, and warned that relocation agreements could "create, in our view, more than 100 new billboards in San Francisco, Prop G notwithstanding."
Commissioners and staff discussed limits on releasing company-provided inventories because of litigation and settlement terms. Staff said the department can publish the map of legal signs with photos but is constrained from releasing a compiled vendor inventory under terms of the settlement.
After discussion, commissioners acknowledged the program's enforcement gains while several members urged continued vigilance about relocations and nonconforming signs and suggested technology and nuisance-reporting tools could help enforcement.
Next steps described by staff include maintaining the inventory, continuing enforcement and implementing the Fuel Outdoor settlement and relocation process.
