2013/08/27 City Council Ordinance 868ORDINANCE NO. 868
AN INTERIM URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK, CALIFORNIA,
EXTENDING THE CITY'S MORATORIUM ON AND
PROHIBITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS OR OTHER
ENTITLEMENTS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION,
OR RELOCATION OF ELECTRONIC MESSAGE CENTERS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK ORDAINS AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings. The City Council finds as follows:
A. On July 23, 2013, pursuant to Government Code Sections 36937 and 65858(b), following
notice and a public hearing, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 861
establishing a 45 -day moratorium on the issuance of any new permit, license, approval, or
entitlement pertaining to Electronic Message Centers (the "Interim Ordinance ").
B. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65858(b), the City may, after notice and a public
hearing, extend the Interim Ordinance for an additional period of up to 22 months and 15
days.
C. Based on substantial evidence in the record, the Development Services Manager has
recommended that the approval or issuance of permits for Electronic Message Centers
presents an immediate threat to and specific adverse impact upon the public health, safety
and welfare of the community.
D. On August 27, 2013, the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing to consider
extending Ordinance No. 861 for an additional twenty two (22) months and fifteen (15)
days from the date Ordinance No. 861 expires.
E. The City Council considered all of the written and oral testimony offered at the duly
noticed public hearing held on August 27, 2013, concerning whether to extend Ordinance
No. 861.
F. The factual basis for extending the Interim Ordinance includes the following:
1. The recitals, provisions, and findings made in Ordinance No. 861 are hereby
reaffirmed, readopted, and incorporated by reference as though they were fully restated
herein.
2. The City desires to further study the potential effects of Electronic Message
Centers on the public health, safety, and welfare, in order to determine whether
reasonable conditions, such as those imposed by neighboring jurisdictions, should be
placed on Electronic Message Centers in the City.
3. City staff is reviewing RPMC Chapter 17 as well as the provisions of neighboring
jurisdictions. However, as provided for in the staff report, which is incorporated by
reference, the City Council finds that staff needs additional time to study, review, and
make an informed recommendation regarding possible amendments to RPMC that would
impose reasonable regulations on Electronic Message Centers.
4. Once a draft ordinance is prepared, that legislation must first be reviewed by the
Planning Commission and the City Council and the public at two meetings and, if
adopted, the ordinance would not go into effect for an additional 30 -days.
5. In order to avoid a lapse in the moratorium, it is necessary that the Interim
Ordinance be extended.
6. The presence of Electronic Message Centers, particularly when located in close
proximity to one another, unless reasonably regulated, can create potential nuisances for a
community, including, but not limited to, visual blight, aesthetic concerns, light pollution,
public safety issues, distraction of the traveling public, and disruption to the use,
enjoyment, and property value of property adjacent to such uses.I The City has a
legitimate interest in providing reasonable safeguards against injury and economic loss to
such patrons.
7. The establishment of new reasonable standards for the issuance of permits for
Electronic Message Centers and regulations on the operation of Electronic Message
Centers will serve to reduce the public safety risks and aesthetic impacts as well as ensure
compatible land uses.
8. The absence of this ordinance would create a serious threat to the orderly and
effective implementation of any RPMC amendments that may be adopted in that the
issuance of permits to Electronic Message Centers within the City may be in conflict with
or frustrate the contemplated RPMC amendments.
G. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65858(d), the City has issued a report relative to
the steps taken to alleviate the conditions that necessitated the adoption of the Interim
Ordinance, which report is incorporated by this reference.
H. The City Council finds that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health,
safety, and welfare based on the above findings, and upon that basis has determined that
an extension of the moratorium prohibiting the issuance of new permits for Electronic
Message Centers is warranted.
SECTION 2. Extension of Moratorium. The City Council orders that, pursuant to the
authority granted to the City Council by California Government Code Section 65858 to protect
the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the City of Rohnert Park, the City
' See e.g., Major Media of the Southeast v. City of Raleigh, 792 F.2d 1269 (1986) and Federal Highway
Administration report, " Research Review of Potential Safety Effects of Electronic Billboards on Driver Attention
and Distraction." Available at:
http: / /olympiawa.gov/ documents /OlympiaPlanningCommission /2011 /OPC. Reg .Mtg.080111 /ATT4.FHWAStudy.pd
f
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Council hereby extends Ordinance No. 861 which established a moratorium on Electronic
Message Centers as follows:
A. No permits (including use permits, conditional use permits, special or temporary
permits) or other applicable use entitlement (including variances, building permits, or business
licenses) under Chapters 17 of the RPMC may be issued for the establishment or operation of
new Electronic Message Centers within the City, except as otherwise provided for herein. In
addition, no existing Electronic Message Centers may be expanded, whether by means of
additional space, construction of new facility, or by reconfiguration.
The moratorium set forth above shall not apply to the renewal of any existing business
license for a Electronic Message Center (provided the renewal seeks to maintain the business in
the existing location).
B. For purposes of this Ordinance, the terms Electronic Message Centers shall have the
meaning provided in RPMC 17.04.030, which provides "Electronic message center means a sign
with a fixed or changing display composed of a series of lights, but not including
time /temperature displays."
C. Establishment or operation of unpermitted Electronic Message Centers in the City
of Rohnert Park shall be a public nuisance per se, enforceable by any applicable law, including
but not limited to injunctions, administrative citations or criminal penalties.
SECTION 3. Legal, Operational and Planning Study. The Planning Department and the City
Attorney's Office are directed to continue to study and analyze issues related to the
establishment, permitting, and operation within the City of Electronic Message Centers, and their
potential impacts on public health, safety, and welfare of the community, the desirability of such
Electronic Message Centers in various zones, and the extent of regulatory controls, if any, to
impose on such Electronic Message Centers. The City Council directs that all studies be pursued
as expeditiously as practicable. In order to prevent frustration of these studies and the
implementation of new regulations, the public interest, health, safety, and welfare require
immediate enactment of this Ordinance.
SECTION 4. Environmental Review. The City Council finds that this ordinance is not subject
to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the
activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the
environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the
CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no
potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly; rather it
prevents changes in the environment pending the completion of the contemplated municipal code
review.
SECTION 5. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of
competent jurisdiction, such decision will not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this
ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each
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and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional
without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid
or unconstitutional.
SECTION 6. Effective Date and Duration. This ordinance is an urgency ordinance enacted
under California Government Code Section 65858(b). This urgency ordinance is effective
immediately upon adoption by a four - fifths (4/5) vote of the City Council and, unless terminated
sooner by the City Council, will extend for a period of 22 months and 15 days from the date of
adoption at which time it will automatically expire.
SECTION 7. Publication. The City Clerk is directed to cause this ordinance to be published in
the manner required by law.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 27th day of August, 2013 by the
following vote:
AYES: Five (5) Council Members Ahanotu, Belforte, Mackenzie, Callinan and Mayor
Stafford
NOES: None (0)
ABSENT: None (0)
ABSTAIN: None (0)
ATTEST:
JoAnne Buergler
City Clerk
APF?ROVED S �® FOR
iI
Midh\-l(/larchetta Kenyon
City Attorney
Ord. 868
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Pam Stafford, Madk)
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SONOMA ) ss.
CITY OF ROHNERT PARK )
CITY CLERK'S CERTIFICATION OF
THE ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE
I, JoAnne Buergler, City Clerk of the City of Rohnert Park, do hereby certify that the foregoing
Ordinance No. 868 was adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 27th day of August, 2013
by the following roll -call vote:
AYES: Five (5) Council Members Ahanotu, Belforte, Mackenzie, Callinan and Mayor Stafford
NOES: None (0)
ABSENT: None (0)
ABSTAIN: None (0)
r
CITY CLERK
nne Buergler
Ord. 868
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