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Current Issues

Clear Channel Tries Again on Digital Billboards

APRIL 30, 2012: ST. PETERSBURG — With no fanfare, Clear Channel has once again submitted an application to the City of St. Petersburg to amend our local sign ordinance to permit digital billboards.  Buried deep within the workshop materials for the May 3rd, 2012 sign code workshop is the following paragraph:

Digital Billboards
Although digital billboards are governed by the Sign Code, the material for this workshop
was not intended to re-address the issue of digital billboards. However, staff has recently
received an application from Clear Channel Outdoor, along with an application fee, to
amend the City Code to permit digital billboards. The application is currently scheduled
to be considered by the Development Review Commission at their June meeting. At this
time, staff anticipates the application will then come before City Council for two (2)
public hearings in July.

A copy of the Council Sign Code Workshop Material is available here.

May 3rd Sign Code Workshop Scheduled

APRIL 30, 2012: ST. PETERSBURG — The purpose of the May 3, 2012 City Council sign workshop is for staff to present to Council a series of proposed amendments to the sign regulations which have resulted from all the previous workshop discussions. If City Council supports the proposed amendments, staff will engage in further discussion with stakeholders to refine any serious issues prior to taking the amendments through the Land Development Regulation (LDR) amendment process.

Among other significant changes, the proposed amendments would:

• Revise the criteria for allowing changes and improvements to existing non-conforming signs
• Define and provide for historic signs
• Increase the permissible dwell time for Electronic Message Center signs
• Permit 3-D extensions to on-premise and off-premise signs (e.g., billboards)
• Define and permit human signs while establishing limits on their use.
• Consider changes to the existing "flag code" which limits the number of flags displayed at a premise.

A copy of the May 3rd Workshop Material is available here.

St. Petersburg to Review Sign Code

ST. PETERSBURG — A week after the City Council rejected a controversial deal that would have allowed digital billboards, the eight-member board has embarked on overhauling rules that regulate all other signs. During a Thursday Public Safety and Infrastructure Committee workshop, the council discussed ways to go about changing the laws that govern hand-held signs that businesses use to advertise, homeowner association meeting signs, sandwich board signs on sidewalks, and new digital signs called electronic message centers that scroll ads or announcements. "I'm encouraged to see council broaden its scope to look at the entire ordinance," said Travis Jarman, a neighborhood leader who helped lead the fight to reject a deal to allow six digital billboards in exchange for removing 80 traditional signs.  (News Courtesy St. Petersburg Times)

A copy of the Council Presentation is available online.

During the meeting city staff compared St. Petersburg's sign regulations to those of a number of other Florida cities.  In some cases St. Petersburg is more restrictive of on-premise signs than cities such as Tampa, but of particular note was the discovery that Clearwater and Gainesville, among others, do not permit Electronic Message Center (EMC) signs at all.  In the city there are currently 54 EMC signs, most of which have been cited for violation of our existing ordinance.  Singled out for comment was the city's own EMC sign at Sunken Gardens, which as of the meeting date was in violation of the city's sign code because it displays animation.

During the discussion it was clear that several Council members (Nurse, Kennedy, Curran) seemed to favor an outright ban on new EMC signs, with retroactive restrictions to be added to existing EMC signs.  Karl Nurse said “Think of our city with 100 times as many of these signs – we need to shut the door”.  This position had the support of city staff and a seeming majority of the Council members.

Other staff-suggested changes to the sign code include prohibiting conversion of existing signs to EMC signs; this change has been put into effect immediately by administrative policy.  Additionally, staff recommends changing the non-conforming sign relocation and repair provision, which currently allows modification of existing signs as long as the total cost of such modifications does not exceed 25% of the replacement value of the sign.  The staff recommendation is to make this a cumulative provision, so as to prevent serial modifications (25% at a time) of non-conforming signs.

Further changes for suggested by staff include (click here for details):

• Requiring a longer message duration for EMC signs – more than 6 seconds but less than 15 minutes (more than 15 minutes was said to be too hard on Code Inspectors to enforce!).
• Prohibiting any increase in sign illumination.
• Prohibiting structural improvements.
• Requiring bringing signs into conformity with current code when improvements over 50% in assessed value are made to the building or site.
• Adding a definition for abandoned signs, and reducing enforcement time on abandoned signs from 6 months to 3 months.
• Developing an enforceable ordinance against individuals holding and/or dressed as signs.

The Committee asked staff to schedule a Council workshop on this subject so that all Council members can participate in the discussion.  That workshop will take place in late September or early October.

Have an opinion about St. Petersburg's proposed changes to the sign code?  Let your Council members and Mayor know by clicking on the Take Action link.