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M M The service clubs have requested an opportunity to address the Board of County Commissioners on this matter. For that reason, this item has been scheduled for the Board meeting of June 17, 1997. ANALYSIS County staff have reviewed the subject proposal and considered it with respect to a number of issues. These include legal concerns, safety issues, aesthetics, existing county regulations, adopted corridor plan requirements, and policies of other local governments. Each issue is addressed below. Legal There are a number of legal issues associated with this proposal. One is whether executing the subject agreement would give the participating groups a monopoly on local bus bench advertising. If not, would the County have to give similar rights to any other interested group? Another issue is whether bus bench advertising rights should be awarded through a competitive selection process such as a bid or RFP. A third is whether the agreement, as proposed, is adequate in terms of maintenance responsibility. It is the county attorney's opinion that executing the attached agreement would not give the referenced service clubs a monopoly on bus bench advertising in the unincorporated county. At its discretion, the Board of County Commissioners could also allow other non-profit groups to provide benches with advertising. Since any advertising benches placed in public rights-of-way would constitute a use of public property, the county attorney's office recommends that any such allowance be granted only through a competitive selection process where all interested parties have an opportunity to obtain the right to do bus bench advertising. Finally, the County Attorney's office has indicated that the proposed agreement could provide for a performance (cash escrow) bond to ensure that benches are maintained to standards set by the County. Any structures which are located in road rights-of-way must meet applicable safety standards. The principal standard applicable to bus benches relates to the clear zone requirement. The clear zone requirement prohibits the placement of structures close to travelways, where the location of such structures could be.a hazard. With respect to the distance from the edge of pavement that a bench or similar structure must be located, two types of roads are treated differently. For roads with an urban cross-section (roads having a non -mountable curb), benches could be located within eighteen inches of the curb. For rural cross-section roads, benches would have to be set back fourteen to twenty-four feet from the roadway edge of pavement, the distance dependent upon roadway characteristics. In the unincorporated area, most roadways are not curbed. Consequently, benches on those roadways would have to be set back so far as to make them unusable in many cases. Most of these uncurbed roads also have roadside canals which, coupled with clear zone requirements, may -make placement of benches on these roads impossible. Where benches can be placed along non -curbed roads without sidewalks, the benches will hinder mowing activities in the right-of-way. For that reason, bus bench maintenance would need to include regular mowing around benches. That activity should be incorporated within a set of bus bench maintenance standards approved by the County and should be the responsibility of the organization placing the benches within the right-of-way. In addition, all such benches should be placed on a poured concrete pad. Aesthetics As proposed, the bus benches would function like billboards, only at eye level. In fact, many of the same advertisements seen on billboards would be incorporated on bus benches. Since both the Community Coach bus system and the school board bus system have stops in residential areas, allowing bus bench advertising could result in unsightly bench JUNE 179 1997 41 b0LIK �� FAGS Iui-I