Laserfiche WebLink
Mounds View City Council May 8, 2006 <br />Regular Meeting Page 11 <br /> <br />the City can hold off other billboard companies for 18 months and the ordinance does not say 1 <br />this. 2 <br /> 3 <br />Mr. Sonterre stated that it does indicate in the ordinance that it is a cap and replace ordinance, 4 <br />and if one does not presently own a billboard and the corresponding permit, one cannot make an 5 <br />application to put a billboard in the City of Mounds View. 6 <br /> 7 <br />Councilmember Stigney wondered if Clear Channel elects not to put in two billboards and if it 8 <br />would tie up another billboard company from coming in. Mr. Sonterre stated that it would 9 <br />because they do not have a permit for the billboard. He stated only the existing permitted ten 10 <br />billboards in the City of Mounds View can be relocated where the zoning and ordinance are 11 <br />applicable. 12 <br /> 13 <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that the City Attorney indicated that as part of the buyout 14 <br />agreement, the City would concurrently amend the ordinance to allow only eight sites if two of 15 <br />the sign locations were bought out. 16 <br /> 17 <br />Councilmember Stigney wondered why this would not be incorporated now. 18 <br /> 19 <br />Councilmember Thomas asked how long the permits are good for. Director Ericson responded 20 <br />that there are leases in existence for the billboards, and with the agreement with Medtronic and 21 <br />Clear Channel, some of the leases have been bought out to be relocated. He stated that he cannot 22 <br />state what point the permit terminates if the billboards are taken down. He stated this may be a 23 <br />gray area but the fact is that the four signs need to be relocated within two years from July 2005, 24 <br />and suggested that is when they terminate. He commented that if any leases have to be bought 25 <br />out, there would be a concurrent ordinance brought forward to the City Council to limit the 26 <br />number of billboards down to the number of leases that need to be bought out from ten. 27 <br /> 28 <br />Mayor Marty recalled that the original permits were for 20 years. 29 <br /> 30 <br />Director Ericson stated the original permits were actually for 15 years. 31 <br /> 32 <br />Councilmember Stigney suggested adding language to reduce the quantity of billboards at the 33 <br />time of the buyout, so the City is covered. 34 <br /> 35 <br />Mayor Marty asked if that language could be incorporated into the ordinance. 36 <br /> 37 <br />Director Ericson stated that the ordinance could certainly be amended to reflect a future 38 <br />provision, but suggested to defer the issue until the City Attorney is present to suggest such 39 <br />language. 40 <br /> 41 <br />Councilmember Thomas commented that the City needs to be very careful with the language so 42 <br />that it is not discriminatory. She stated there is some legal ambiguity on whether that would 43 <br />cause any legal problems. 44 <br /> 45