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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07221997 - C82 IOC - 03 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE �- Contra FROM: �. Costa July 15, 1997 County �. DATE: co'rrq coan� REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE "BILLBOARD AGREE 7 AND SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE TOBACCO-FREE YOUTH POLICY DISCUSSIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL ORDINANCE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. ACCEPT this report from the Internal Operations Committee on the status of the implementation of the "billboard agreement" and on the status of development of a model ordinance to regulate the advertising of tobacco in an effort to protect young people from such advertising. 2. REQUEST the Community Development Director to provide an additional report to the Internal Operations Committee on Tuesday, September 16, 1997 at 10:00 A.M. 'on the extent to which progress has been made on reaching agreement on an alternative location for the billboard signs which are within 1600 feet of schools in the unincorporated area of the County and issuing a land use permit for the alternative locations. 3. REQUEST the Health Services Director to provide an additional report to the Internal Operations Committee on Tuesday, September 16, 1997 at 10:00 A.M. on the development of the model ordinance. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD MITTEE APPROVE OTHER t SIGNATURESnnNNA EE ACTION OF BOARD ON July APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT r— AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: ATTESTED July 22, 1997 PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR See Page 3 M382 (10/88) BY ,DEPUTY •V BACKGROUND: On April 15, 1997, the Board of Supervisors received and referred to our Committee the report from the Tobacco Prevention Coalition. The report provides an update on the Board's request to make tobacco-free youth a public priority and to develop policy recommendations for reducing the impact of tobacco on young people. Our Committee considered this report on May 20, 1997. Following the discussion on May 20, 1997, staff was asked to invite Eller Media and Gannett Outdoor (now Outdoor Systems, Inc.) to meet with the Committee on June 17, 1997. The Community Development Department was asked to provide a progress report on the submission and processing of applications for land use permits by the two companies. The County Counsel's office was asked to review the legal consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to grant petitions for review of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' 1996 decisions in the "Baltimore" cases. As a result of the meeting on June 17, 1997, the Board of Supervisors approved a report from our Committee on June 24, 1997, which asked the two billboard companies to respond in writing regarding their willingness to avoid any tobacco or alcohol advertising on the billboards within 1600 feet of a school while the processing of the land use permits proceeds. Both companies orally assured the Board of Supervisors that they would provide such an assurance in writing. On July 15, 1997, our Committee met with members of the Tobacco Prevention Coalition, staff from the Health Services Department, Community Development Department, County Counsel's Office, and representatives from the Tobacco Institute, Eller Media, and Outdoor Systems, Inc. Our Committee was pleased to see that we had obtained written assurances from both billboard companies that they would not place tobacco or alcoholic beverage advertising on the billboards in question while the land use process proceeded. Steve Shinn from Outdoor Systems, Inc. identified an alternative site on Tosco Refinery (formerly Unocal) property in Rodeo off Interstate 80. This alternative site was identified because of problems identified by the Redevelopment Agency with the other alternate sites which had been identified in North Richmond. Julie Kim from Eller Media Company noted that they had a site identified on Mt. View Sanitary District property in the Martinez area. It was noted that this site has the approval of the City of Martinez and the Mt. View Sanitary District Board of Directors. Our Committee had an extended discussion with the billboard companies regarding the weight to which traffic counts were to be given in deciding "rough equivalency" for the replacement of the billboards in question. Representatives of the billboard companies indicated that it was their belief that traffic counts were to be only one of several factors staff could take into account in deciding "rough equivalency." Supervisor Rogers indicated that he would not have signed off on the agreement if he felt there was going to be an increased exposure to billboards in general. His concern is that many people do not like billboards at all, regardless of what advertising is on the billboard and he does not want the alternative site for the billboard to have an increased public exposure, even without alcoholic beverage or tobacco products advertising. Supervisor Gerber indicated that staff was going to have to weigh all of the testimony and the terms of the agreement in reaching a decision on "rough equivalency." -2- The billboard company representatives indicated that they understood the focus all along had been to reduce the exposure of young people to alcoholic beverage and tobacco product advertising. It is their hope the alternative sites could be approved by the Zoning Administrator without having to come back to the Board of Supervisors at all, unless there were an appeal. There was no final resolution to this discussion except to wait and see what decision was reached by staff. Regina Penna from the Tobacco Control Project in the Health Services Department noted that staff is gathering ordinances from other jurisdictions. They have an advisory committee which will provide input regarding the form the model ordinance takes. They hope to have the review of the model,ordinance completed by the end of the summer and to have an ordinance to review with the Internal Operations Committee in September. Staff also indicated that the youth education project is working on strategies to address the proliferation of tobacco advertising throughout the community - not just near schools. Youth are documenting areas where there is proliferation of advertising and is developing coalitions with other groups and individuals to address these situations. We are asking that further status reports on these subjects be returned to our Committee in September, at which time we hope to have a draft model ordinance for our consideration. cc: County Administrator Community Development Director Health Services Director_ County Counsel Steve Shinn, Outdoor Systems, Inc. 1695 Eastshore Highway Berkeley, CA 94710 Julie Kim, Eller Media Group 1601 Maritime Street Oakland, CA 94607 -3- f , OuUdooAxl �temS y ADVERTISING New York June 27, 1997 New Jersey CONTRA COSTA COUNTY Philadelphia RECFIvED New Haven Los Angeles San Diego JUN 3 0 1997 San Francisco Claude L. Van Marter Sacramento Assistant County Administrator OFFICE OF San Jose Contra Costa County COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Chicago Detroit 651 Pine Street, 11th Floor Grand Rapids Martinez, CA-94553-1229 Flint Atlanta Dear Mr. Van Marter: Columbus New Orleans As requested by the Internal Operations Committee on June 17, 1997 and as I verbally Louisville St.Louis agreed to at the Board of Supervisors meeting on June 24, 1997, Outdoor Systems will Kansas City voluntarily stop the advertising of alcohol and tobacco products on our billboards within Houston 1600' of schools, effective immediately. Currently, the billboards are not displaying any Denver advertising for alcohol or tobacco products. Phoenix Tucson We will continue to voluntarily restrict the billboards from displaying advertising for Canada alcohol and tobacco products, while we are actively pursuing alternative billboard Mediacom locations and attempting to obtain permits through the County's land use permit process. Toronto If, we are denied permits to relocate the billboards and have exhausted all available Hamilton possibilities for new locations and permits, we then reserve the right to reconsider this Montreal voluntary action. Ottawa Quebec City Winnipeg We remain confident that we will be successful in finding alternative locations to relocate Regina the billboards under the terms and conditions of the agreement we signed with the County Saskatoon last year. Hopefully, the County, other agencies, community organizations and interested Halifax parties will review our permit applications for new billboard locations with an open mind while considering all aspects of the agreement in their entirety. Si y, SteFphen R. Ann Public Affairs/Real Estate Manager 1695 Eastshore Highway Berkeley, California 94710 (510) 527-3350 • Fax (510) 527-7041 r ELLER June 24, 1997 MEDIA COMPANY Supervisor Donna Gerber Supervisor Jim Rogers Internal Operations Committee Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors 651 Pine Street Martinez, CA 94553-1229 RE: Billboard Relocation Agreement Dear Supervisors Gerber and Rogers: Over the course of the past year, Eller Media has been working continuously and consistently in a good faith effort with the staff of the Contra Costa County Community Development Department to implement our Agreement to relocate our billboards located within 1600' of schools. We have committed a great deal of time and effort researching, reviewing and submitting numerous replacement locations to staff. As many of those locations were deemed unsuitable, we continued our search for additional locations and entered into lease negotiations with property owners while working with the County on the land-use application process. To further demonstrate the good faith nature upon which we entered into the Agreement, Eller Media will voluntarily cease to place any tobacco or alcohol advertisements on the 11 signs, effective the week of 7/14. We will continue this voluntary policy for such time as we are confident that the County will expedite the permitting process through the Zoning Administrator. We have abided by the guidelines and worked in the spirit of the Agreement in selecting our relocation site. The Agreement defined a set of criteria to judge replacement signs and we have worked to the best of our ability to meet and balance all of those standards. Given the complexity of land-use related issues, including securing a private property lease, obtaining a State permit, the criteria set forth in the Agreement, and the concern over the amount of time this process has taken, we are confident that the location currently under review by the County is the best solution for all parties involved. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION 1601 MARITIME STREET,OAKLAND,CALIFORNIA 94607 (510)835-5900 FAX(510)835-1024 We look forward to continue working with County staff to bring this agreement to fruition in the very near future. Sincerely, ulie H. Kim Public Affairs Representative Northern California Division cc: Supervisor DeSaulnier Supervisor Uilkema Supervisor Canciamilla Claude Van Marter, Assistant County Administrator Dennis Barry, Deputy Community Development Director George Broder, Eller Media