Lafayette Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

(a) The city council finds that the uncontrolled placement and maintenance of moveable, individual, freestanding newsracks upon public rights-of-way poses hazards to the traveling public, interferes with the property rights of adjacent owners and with other legitimate users of the right-of-way, causes visual blight and detracts from the aesthetics of adjacent users, and results in an unnecessary degree of exposure of the city to liability claims.

(b) The public health, safety, welfare and convenience require that: interference with vehicular, bicycle, wheelchair or pedestrian traffic be avoided; obstruction of sight distance and views of traffic signs and street-crossing pedestrians be eliminated; damage done to sidewalks or streets be minimized and repaired; the good appearance of the public streets and grounds be maintained; trees and other landscaping be allowed to grow without disturbance; access to emergency and other public facilities be maintained; and ingress and egress from properties adjoining the public rights-of-way be protected.

(c) There is a substantial governmental interest in promoting the public health, safety, welfare and convenience by ensuring that persons may reasonably use the public streets, sidewalks, rights-of-way and other public property without interference. The need for specific standards for placement of newsracks on public rights-of-way is the greatest in the downtown area due to the frequency of pedestrian and vehicular traffic and the number of newsracks located in this area.

(d) Given the limited space available, the city has a substantial interest in devising a systematic approach to newsrack placement to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of news publications. This objective may be achieved by allowing modular newsracks and prohibiting freestanding newsracks in congested areas or areas with particular public safety, aesthetic or historical concerns, and where the use of modular newsracks will promote the city's aesthetic interest in the appearance of the area, result in more news publications in less space and thereby reduce congestion.

(e) The regulation of newsracks provides the least intrusive and least burdensome means for ensuring that the purposes of this chapter are carried out while still providing ample opportunities for the distribution of news to the citizens.

(f) A reasonable accommodation of these competing interests is achieved by adoption of this chapter.

(Ord. 481 § 1 (part), 1997)

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Abandoned newsrack" means a newsrack which remains empty or contains outdated material for 15 days; however, a newsrack remaining empty or containing outdated material due to labor strike or temporary and extraordinary interruption of distribution or publication by the newspaper or other publication sold or distributed from that newsrack is not considered abandoned.

(2) "Director" means the community development director or the director's designee.

(3) "Downtown newsrack district" is the area defined on the map attached to and made a part of this chapter by reference.

(4) "Engineering services manager" means the person designated by the director to issue an encroachment permit under this chapter.

(5) "Freestanding newsrack" means a newsrack which is not a modular newsrack.

(6) "Modular newsrack" means an assembly of a type, design or model which conforms with the newsrack specifications, is approved by the director, contains two (2) or more newsracks, and is attached to the sidewalk, street or public right-of-way in accordance with this chapter.

(7) "Newsrack" means a self-service or coin operated box, container, storage unit or other dispenser (referred to as a compartment) used for the display and sale or distribution of a newspaper, news periodical or nonnewspaper publication.

(8) "Newsrack specifications" means the regulations, established by city council resolution, which contain permit procedures, design specifications and newsrack standards for design, maintenance and display, and other matters pertaining to the administration of this chapter.

(9) "Planter strip" means the area, whether planted or not, between the sidewalk and the curb of a street. Where the sidewalk is adjacent to the curb, it means the area between the sidewalk and the property line. Where there is no sidewalk, it means the area between the edge of the roadway and the property line adjacent to it, whether planted or not.

(10) "Public right-of-way" means land which by conveyance, agreement, dedication, usage, or process of law is reserved and dedicated to the general public for street, highway, alley, public utility, or pedestrian walkway purposes, whether or not the land is accepted for maintenance by the city. Public right-of-way includes, but is not limited to, street, roadway, planter strip and sidewalk.

(11) "Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curb line and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding planter strips.

(Ord. 481 § 1 (part), 1997)

The city council shall establish a newsrack advisory committee comprised of newspaper and news periodical representatives, their designated distributors, representatives from downtown businesses and other interested parties to assist the director in the implementation and administration of this chapter, with particular attention to ongoing maintenance of the newsracks, and to minimize the cost to the city of the implementation and administration of this chapter.

(Ord. 481 § 1 (part), 1997)

The city council may adopt, by resolution, a newsrack permit fee schedule fixing fees for new and replacement newsracks, impound fees, and other fees necessary for the implementation of this chapter.

(Ord. 481 § 1 (part), 1997)