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side. "The issue here is money,with a lot of bad blood between Dekalb,who is facilitating the task force says, "It is a real 50-50
<br /> the two camps,"says Paul Buss,the Dubuque County zoning. group with both sides being equally represented."The group
<br /> administrator. "What the county would like is to rezone the two will meet once a week and was expected to present
<br /> farms as C-1,a very strict commercial conditional zoning recommendations to the mayor by the beginning of September.
<br /> prohibiting anything but Field of Dreams-related uses.No fast- This should allow time for suggested changes to the city's
<br /> food restaurants or anything of the sort would be allowed,and if ordinance by the end of the moratorium.Possible changes may
<br /> the cornfield closed down, the zoning would revert to A-1." range from an all-out ban on billboards to adopting the
<br /> The Lansings are challenging the B-1 designation,telling The proposed increase in spacing between signs.
<br /> New York Times it could lead to a proliferation of"hotels,bowling While other cities are invoking the right to amortize
<br /> alleys(and)bus depots,"though Buss says none of those uses would billboards,essentially making them nonconforming uses and
<br /> be permitted:And with what Buss says is"a multi-million dollar compensating billboard owners with time rather than money,
<br /> business"and the leading tourist attraction in the region at stake, Lincoln no longer has this power.
<br /> this zoning dispute is a sure candidate to head into extra innings. In an odd twist,the person who aided in taking away the power
<br /> Joseph Bornstein of Nebraska cities to amortize is the same newly elected Mayor
<br /> Don Wesley who made billboard reform a pan of his 1999
<br /> Billboard Moratorium: Signs of the Times campaign platform.In the early 1980s,Wesley was a state senator
<br /> In Lincoln,Nebraska,a seven-month moratorium on billboard who sponsored legislation effectively removing amortization from
<br /> permits was imposed until a special task force can make the state law.Wesley has maintained that billboards were not the
<br /> recommendations for revising the city's zoning ordinance for problem they are today.If Lincoln decides to ban billboards
<br /> off-premises billboards.The moratorium,effective July 23, without amortization,Wesley says in the Lincoln Journal Star
<br /> 1999,comes after a significant increase in billboard permits "taking these billboards down—because of that state law that
<br /> issued in the past year. Senator Don Wesley passed—is going to be very expensive."
<br /> For most of this decade the billboard market in Lincoln Jerome Cleland
<br /> maintained a low profile,issuing an annual average of four new
<br /> permits between 1991 and 1997.The 1990s market was
<br /> dominated by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, laying claim to most
<br /> of the prime billboard locations. But in 1998,industry Gkeports
<br /> competitor Gray Outdoor Advertising emerged to start
<br /> purchasing secondary locations,sending new permit requests
<br /> skyrocketing.Forty new only to s
<br /> o be matched the first billboard
<br /> six months of 1999 by anothe8 Charting a Course for
<br /> 40. Lincoln city planner Mike Dekalb,says"the market went Smith Mountain Lake:
<br /> from practically nothing to a perceived explosion. Most of the The Vision
<br /> billboards are going in locations that have never had billboards Franklin County Department of Planning 6-Community Develop-
<br /> before,so their impact is perceived to be even greater." ment, 70 E. Court St., Suite 301,Rocky Mount, VA 24151.May
<br /> The increase in billboards became a political topic in this 1998. 32 pp. $15.
<br /> year's spring election.Two city council members and the newly The problem confronted by Franklin County and a number
<br /> elected mayor made billboard reform a part of their campaigns. of jurisdictions around Smith Lake was how to manage
<br /> Council member Jon Camp says,"It was an important part of development in a way that would preserve.this artificial lake
<br /> the larger issue that addressed how Lincoln citizens wanted their originally developed to supply hydroelectric power to western
<br /> city to look."Camp quickly acted on the matter by proposing Virginia.Lakes are attractive development sites, but the wrong
<br /> that the city change its ordinance to increase the distance types of development can ruin the very scenery and water
<br /> between billboards larger than 150 square feet from 300 to 800 quality that drew people in the first place.This plan,the
<br /> feet. Camp's proposal is pending while a task force discusses the recipient of a Virginia APA chapter award,aims to concentrate
<br /> issue in more depth. development in village centers, to coordinate zoning and
<br /> The 15-member task force convened at the request of the development controls around the lake edge,and to control
<br /> mayor includes representatives of the planning commission, environmental impacts within the watershed,such as soil
<br /> billboard industry,local chapter of the American Institute of erosion,agricultural runoff,and septic tank leakage.
<br /> Architects, Dark Sky Society,_and chamber of commerce.
<br /> Downtown Plan:
<br /> Richmond
<br /> Zoning News is a monthly newsletter published by the American Planning Association.
<br /> Subscriptions are available for$55(U.S.)and$78(foreign).Frank S.So,Executive Director; Richmond Department of Community Development, Comprehen-
<br /> William R.Klein,Director of Research. side Planning Division,900 E Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219.
<br /> Zoning Neur is produced at APA.Jim Schwab and Mike Davidson,Editors;Shannon October 1997 128 pp.plus maps. $10.
<br /> Armstrong,Barry Bain,Joseph Bornstein,Jerome Cleland,Fay Dolnick,Sanjay Jeer,Megan
<br /> Lewis,Marya Morris,Reporters;Cynthia Cheski.Assistant Editor;Lisa Barton,Design and Reviving the downtown of any major city is no easy challenge,
<br /> Production. but this plan,another Virginia chapter award winner,is a
<br /> Copyright 01999 by American Planning Association,122 S.Michigan Ave.,Suite 1600, remarkably thorough piece of work with clear visions for the
<br /> Chicago,IL 60603.The American Planning Association also has offices at 1776 Massachusetts Various distinct subsections of downtown Richmond.The plan
<br /> Ave.,N.W.,Washington,DC 20036;www.planning.org P
<br /> All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by addresses riverfront uses along the James River corridor;
<br /> any means,electronic or mechanical,including photocopying,recording,or by any information development of downtown housing;the integration of
<br /> storage and retrieval system,without permission in writing from the American Planning
<br /> Association. institutional,commercial,and governmental uses in a state capital;
<br /> Printed on recycled paper,including 50-70%recycled fiber and numerous other planning and zoning concerns in a Well-
<br /> and 10%postconsumer waste. ® organized format,complete with easily understood foldout maps.
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