HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-03-23 - AGENDA REPORTS - SIGNAGE DATABASE CONSULTANT (2)UNFINISHED BUSINESS
DATE:
AGENDA REPORT
March 23, 1999
City Manager Approval
Item to be presented by
SUBJECT: APPROPRIATION OF $100,000 FROM THE COUNCIL CONTINGENCY
ACCOUNT NO. 1240-7401 TO THE PLANNING DIVISION ACCOUNT
NO. 3120-8110 TO HIRE A CONSULTANT TO CREATE, ORGANIZE
AND MANAGE A SIGNAGE DATABASE, AND OVERSEE
COMPLIANCE OF THE CITY S SIGN ORDINANCE
DEPARTMENT: Planning and Building Services
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council appropriate $100,000 from the City Council's Contingency Account No. 1240-7401
to the Planning Division's Professional Services Account No. 3120-8110 for the purposes of
hiring a consultant to create, organize and manage a signage database, and oversee compliance,
of the City's Sign Ordinance.
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Since October 1996, staff has been working with the Chamber of Commerce and the Sign Task
Force to address the November 13, 1999, expiration of the non -conforming signage amortization
period. To date, staff has sent several notices of the upcoming deadline and completed a digital
inventory of all signs within the City. A major component of the action plan supported by the
Council at the February 9, 1999, meeting, is the need to design, organize and maintain a
database of all of the business signage in the City.
Staff is preparing to circulate a Request for Proposals (RFP) to potential consulting firms to
undertake this endeavor. The consultant will be responsible for taking the digital sign
inventory staff has prepared and combining it with parcel information to create a database and
GIS layer that can be used for all property and business owner notification. The final product
will result in the City having a complete database of all signage and the ability to send
notification to all non -conforming businesses and property owners.
Staff envisions that the scope of services to be provided by the consultant eventually selected
will include an enforcement option. This enforcement option will include the processing of all
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notifications (to be drafted by City staff and written on City Letterhead) and fieldwork to
ascertain whether compliance has been achieved. This approach will drastically reduce the
need to hire additional full-time Code Enforcement staff, as a consultant can accomplish many
of these functions. It is projected that the City's Code Enforcement staff will be primarily
needed to oversee potential matters of litigation if business owners should fail to come into
compliance following the certified delivery of the final notification.
Based upon comparable consultation work previously and/or currently being provided to cities
such as Santa Monica and West Hollywood, staff estimates that the contract will cost
approximately $85,000 to $90,000, with an additional $5,000 to $10,000 budgeted for certified
mailing postage. Staff will be in a better position to provide actual costs to the City Council
following the completion of the proposed RFP process. As city staff have already done a great
deal of the preparation work associated with this professional service, the actual cost to perform
this professional service may come in at an amount that is less then currently being requested.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
1. The Council could appropriate funds to hire full-time staff to prepare and manage the
database and staff to address the enforcement in November 1999. However, staff believes
it is more appropriate to seek consulting services from a firm experienced in this field,
rather than to bring in new staff with potentially little to no such experience; or
The City Council may select not to appropriate additional funds and have existing staff
attempt to address the November 1999 deadline without additional resources. However,
based upon current work loads and the City Council's previous direction to provide more
proactive Code Enforcement, existing city resources will not be sufficient to oversee this
effort.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff is requesting that the Council allocate $100,000 from Council Contingency Fund 1240-
7401 into account 3120-8110 to cover the cost of the proposed program.
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