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Report regarding introduction of an ordinance adding Chapter 10.78 to the South San Francisco Municipal Code regulating signs on motor vehicles parked, left standing, or operated on city streets or public lands. (Sky Woodruff, City Attorney, and Ali Wolf, Assistant City Attorney)
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco waive first reading and introduce an ordinance adding Chapter 10.78 to the South San Francisco Municipal Code regulating signs on motor vehicles parked, left standing, or operated on city streets or public lands.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Chapter 20.260, within the Zoning Code, sets forth restrictions on signs attached to vehicles within the City of South San Francisco (“City”) when those vehicles are on private property. Among other restrictions, Section 20.360.004 currently restricts signs mounted, attached, or painted on a trailer, boat, or motor vehicle when parked, stored, or displayed conspicuously on private premises in a manner intended to attract attention of the public for the purpose of advertising or identifying the business premises, with certain exceptions.
The South San Francisco Municipal Code (“Municipal Code”) does not currently regulate signs on vehicles when vehicles are on public streets or public lands. The placement of mounted or attached signs on vehicles using public streets and driving onto public lands, when the signs extend beyond the body of the vehicle threatens the health, safety, and welfare of the public as they create aesthetic blight that adversely affects the quality of life and traffic safety in the City, including but not limited to creating unsafe driving conditions and impacting the line of sight for residents, businesses, pedestrians, bicyclists, and persons in vehicles.
The proposed ordinance would establish that it is unlawful for any person to park, leave standing, or operate a motor vehicle on any public street or public lands in the City when a sign that extends beyond the body of the vehicle is mounted, attached, or painted on the motor vehicle. Exceptions may be made for signs that are otherwise subject to federal or state governmental regulations that may be in conflict with the City’s regulation.
The proposed ordinance balances the constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech while also preventing cluttered or distracting signage that creates aesthetic blight and impacts traffic safety throughout the City.
A traditional public forum is a place such as a park, public street, or sidewalk, where people
have traditionally been able to express ideas and opinions. In a traditional public forum, First Amendment activities are granted the greatest protection and generally may not be prohibited, except in very limited circumstances. Content-based regulations, that allow or exclude speech based on the subject matter of the speech, are presumed to be unconstitutional in a traditional public forum. However, content-neutral “time, place and manner” regulations of speech are valid if they are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and they leave open ample alternative means for communication of the information.
The modest scope of the proposed ordinance is content‐neutral, narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and provides ample alternative avenues of communication. The reasonable time, place, and manner of the restriction is narrowly tailored to reduce or eliminate the negative effects on traffic safety and aesthetic blight that affects the aesthetic quality of life within the City and does not restrict signs based on their content. The proposed ordinance also leaves open ample alternative means of communication, including but not limited to the use of signs on or in vehicles that do not extend beyond the body of the vehicle, passing out leaflets, walking around with signs, or putting up yard signs, among many other avenues of communication. Furthermore, the proposed restriction on signs would be applied in a content-neutral manner specific to the noncommunicative aspects of the sign, including the time, place, manner, location, size, height, and orientation of signs.
A violation of the proposed ordinance could be enforced as a criminal infraction, and would be declared to be a public nuisance, subject to all remedies and enforcement measures authorized under the South San Francisco Municipal Code, including, but not limited to, the issuance of an administrative citation and fine. The ordinance would also require that any person violating the ordinance for the first time must be given an educational notice.
FUNDING
This ordinance will have no financial impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL
The action of introduction and adoption of this ordinance does not constitute a project as defined by California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378; therefore, no further
environmental review is required.
CONCLUSION
It is recommended that the City Council waive first reading and introduce an ordinance adding Chapter 10.78 to the South San Francisco Municipal Code regulating signs on motor vehicles parked, left standing, or operated on city streets or public lands.