LAKEPORT — The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Tuesday granted an appeal for a use permit for a billboard in the South Lakeport area.
La Monica Signs filed for a five-year time extension of the use permit for operation of the billboard, which is located at 255 Soda Bay Road in a remote area visible from Highway 29.
On Jan. 26, the Lake County Planning Commission denied the request, finding that it did not conform with location requirements set forth in the County Zoning Ordinance because it was located outside the established Lakeport Sphere of Influence boundary. The commission recommended the BOS deny the appeal.
The original use permit for the billboard was approved by the Planning Commission in April 1996. The Zoning Ordinance at that time permitted billboards for a period of 10 years with the approval of a major use permit.
The current Zoning Ordinance changed the time permitted for billboards to a maximum of five years, which the Planning Commission approved for the site on April 13, 2006. In 2009, the BOS approved an amendment to the ordinance that allowed owners with approved use permits for billboards to reapply when the five-year permit expired.
The appeal was discussed and continued at the June 12 BOS meeting to allow staff to reanalyze the appeal.
Senior Planner Kevin Ingram said there were three options: temporarily postpone the appeal hearing and provide La Monica Signs the opportunity to apply for a variance, which the Planning Commission would consider; Amend the Zoning Ordinance to accommodate the specific billboard; or make specific findings that the existing billboard meets the spirit and intent of the Zoning Ordinance because of unique circumstances.
Ingram recommended the BOS take the third option. Six specific findings related to the billboard were recommended to the BOS.
Those findings included the presence of wetlands and vernal pools that make access to remove the billboard difficult without negatively impacting the environment; the granting of the appeal does not represent a special privilege because the billboard is an existing, legally authorized structure; and an economic need still exists for the billboard because of limited outdoor advertising space and the current economic environment.
District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, in whose district the billboard stands, said the location of the billboard was “horribly planned” and recommended adding a seventh finding that stated it would be the most southern billboard in existence and no other billboards be established in this part of the Highway 29 corridor.
Farrington moved to uphold the appeal with the amended findings and directed county counsel to prepare findings of fact. The appeal was upheld 4-1, with District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing dissenting because she did not agree with all of the findings.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
