<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">A report on the legislation to allow conversion of existing billboards lit by floodlight to LEDs is below. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">Executive Summary: The lawyers and other officials were assigned responsibility to get answers and to report back to the PZED Committee as soon as possible but not later than Tuesday, September 30, the last day in the current legislative session by which ‘expedited’ bills may be considered before the break for the General Election and the seating of the new County Council in December 2014.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">-Sarah</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="garamond, serif">.........................................................................................................................</font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif">Sarah Wayland, Ph.D.</font><span style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"> |</span><span style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"> </span><a href="http://www.guidingexceptionalparents.com/" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">www.GuidingExceptionalParents.com</a></div><div><font face="garamond, serif">Supporting students with learning differences and their families</font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><br></font></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">IHHAAC Board</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ihhaac.board@gmail.com">ihhaac.board@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 11:54 PM<br>Subject: IHHAAC information Alert: Report of PZED Consideration of Digital/LED Billboard Bill<br>To: IHHAAC Board <<a href="mailto:ihhaac.board@gmail.com">ihhaac.board@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><div align="center" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;text-align:center"><b><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"></font></b><br></div><div align="center" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;text-align:center"><b><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">FOR IHHAAC MEMBERS & FRIENDS</font></b></div><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p align="center" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-align:center"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">Report on PZED Committee Meeting re Digital/LED
Billboards</font></u></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p align="center" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-align:center"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">On Tuesday,
September 23, 2014, the Planning, Zoning & Economic Development (PZED)
Committee of the Prince George’s County Council considered Draft 2B (third
draft) of CB-73-2014, whether existing billboards should be allowed to be
converted to digital/LED (a policy issue) and, if so, what could/would/should be
the rules/criteria, the process, the fees and the circumstances, including
whether and to what extent the County has the legal authority to put a program
in place.</font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">Billboards
have been illegal in the County since 1993 and are supposed to be phased out as
a blight on the landscape. Billboards also have been declared illegal in almost
every jurisdiction in the United States and are supposed to be phased out. Those
remaining are ’grandfathered’ under existing laws, just as they are in Prince
George’s County, but no new ones may be built.</font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">Clear
Channel Communications representatives reported that their firm owns “192 structures”
in the County supporting about 300 billboards, some of which are double-faced,
front and rear. The only other billboards in the county are a handful of
Mom/Pop operations. Hence, Clear Channel represents about 99% of the
outdoor/billboard advertising business in the county.</font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">The wide-ranging
discussion included: imposition of a requirement for an owner to apply to the Zoning Hearing
Examiner (ZHE) for a special exception to allow conversion of a billboard to
digital/LED; criteria which ZHE could/would/should consider; number of
billboards which Clear Channel envisions initially converting to digital/LED
(unclear, but at least 10); permissible advertising content (no alcohol,
tobacco, firearms, adult content, etc.); permissible distance of LED billboards
from schools, churches and residences; the definition of ‘static’ advertising
(the copy would change every 10 seconds); whether non-conforming billboards (i.e.,
all of them) must be required to be permitted and fees paid before an
application for a special exception for a digital/LED conversion would be accepted
and considered; the amount of the permitting fee per billboard, whether
traditional or digital/LED; whether there should be a sliding scale of fees
based on the size of the billboard; whether billboards on state roads would
have to be treated differently than those located on county roads; and availability
of digital/LED billboards for public service announcements.</font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">There were
so many issues and unanswered questions that it became clear that Draft 2B was
wholly inadequate and that a fourth draft would have to be prepared. The lawyers
and other officials were assigned responsibility to get answers and to report
back to the PZED Committee as soon as possible but not later than Tuesday,
September 30, the last day in the current legislative session by which
‘expedited’ bills may be considered before the break for the General Election
and the seating of the new County Council in December 2014. </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"> </font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri">The sponsor
of the legislation, CM Andrea Harrison, emphasized that it was important to get
the language and provisions of the bill done properly the first time. It was
left an open question whether that was achievable in seven days, given the
multitude of policy and process issues to be resolved and the press of other
business on the County Council. IHHAAC will keep you apprised of developments.</font></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">
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