HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 2008-17 (Title: An ordinance of the City of Friendswood amending Appendix A, the City's sign
ordinance by authorizing amendments to the Sign Ordinance to prohibit electronic,
billboards and adding a new definition for "changeable electronic variable message sign.")
ORDINANCE NO. 2008-17
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING APPENDIX A OF THE CODE OF
ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD,TEXAS,BEING THE
CITY'S SIGN ORDINANCE, BY AMENDING SECTION 1 THEREOF BY
ADDING A NEW DEFINITION FOR "CHANGEABLE ELECTRONIC
VARIABLE MESSAGE SIGN (CEVMS)'; AND BY AMENDING
SECTION 9, ENTITLED "PROHIBITED SIGNS," BY PROHIBITING
ELECTRONIC DIGITAL BILLBOARDS (CEVMS); PROVIDING A
PENALTY IN AN AMOUNT OF $2,000 FOR VIOLATION OF ANY j
PROVISION HEREOF; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF
ORDINANCES INCONSISTENT OR IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND
PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY.
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Friendswood has determined that outdoor
�J advertisingsigns, including changeable electronic variable message signs CEVMS pose a
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distraction to drivers, bikers, and pedestrians using the roadways of the city; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that in order to preserve and enhance the
City of Friendswood as a desirable community in which to live and do business, a pleasing,
visually attractive environment is of foremost importance, and the City sign regulations are a
highly contributive means by which to achieve this desired goal; and
WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Transportation has adopted rules found at 43 TAC
21.163(c)(1)that allow for CEVMSs to be erected along state regulated highways; and
WHEREAS, the adopted rules found at 43 TAC 21.163(c)(1) state that"electronic signs
may only be located, relocated, or upgraded along a regulated highway within the corporate
limits of a municipality or within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality that pursuant
to state law has extended its municipal regulation to include that area and is allowed by the
municipality's sign or zoning ordinance'; and
WHEREAS, the city council finds that CEVMSs are inconsistent with the above-stated
goal; and
WHEREAS, the City seeks to update its Sign Ordinance to expressly prohibit CEVMSs
and to add a new definition for"changeable electronic variable message sign";
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FRIENDSWOOD, STATE OF TEXAS:
Section 1. Appendix A of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Friendswood, Texas,
same being the City's Sign Ordinance, is hereby amended by amending Section 1 to add a new
definition for"changeable electronic variable message sign"to read and provide as follows:
"APPENDIX A- SIGN ORDINANCE
Sec. 1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this Appendix A to subsection K of section 8 of Ordinance No. 84-15 as�
created by Ordinance No. 91-15 ("Appendix"),the following definitions shall apply:
Changeable electronic variable message sign (CEVMS) shall mean a sign that permits light
to be turned on or off intermittently or which is operated in a way whereby light is turned
on or off intermittently, including any illuminated sign on which such illumination is not
kept stationary or constant in intensity and color at all times when such sign is in use,
including an LED (light emitting diode) or digital sign, and which varies in intensity or
color. A CEVMS sign does not include a sign located within the right of way that functions
as a traffic control device and that is described and identified in the Manual on Uniform
Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) approved by the Federal Highway Administrator as the
National Standard.
Ord 2008-17 2
Section 2. Appendix A of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Friendswood, Texas,
same being the City's Sign Ordinance, is hereby amended by amending Section 9 to read and.
provide as follows:
"Sec. 9. Prohibited signs.
Signs of the following nature are expressly prohibited unless specifically authorized by this
ordinance [appendix]:
a. Billboards. , including but not limited to, new off-premises CEVMSs or the conversion of
existing non-CEVMS off-premise signs to CEVMSs, and any other signs permitted by 43
TAC 21.163(c)(1).
Section 3. Any person who shall intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal
negligence, violate any provision of this Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction shall be fined in an amount not to exceed $2,000. Each day of violation shall;
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constitute a separate offense.
Section 4. All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent or in conflict herewith
are, to the extent of such inconsistency or conflict, hereby repealed.
Section 5. In the event any clause,phrase,provision, sentence, or part of this Ordinance
or the application of the same to any person or circumstance shall for any reason be adjudged
invalid or held unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect, impair, or
invalidate this Ordinance as a whole or any part or provision hereof other than the part declared to
be invalid or unconstitutional; and the City.Council of the City of Friendswood, Texas,declares that
it would have passed each and every part of the same notwithstanding the omission of any such part
thus declared to be invalid or unconstitutional,whether there be one or more parts.
PASSED,APPROVED on first reading this 7th day of July,2008.
Ord 2008-17 3
PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPTED on second and final reading this the 21s`
day of July,2008.
David Jv. H. Smith
Mayor
A S :
D oris McKenzie, TRM tempt �a$
City Secretary p
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Ord 2008-17 4