Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/07/1999

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Page 2- November 10, 1999' g.g. Vested Right- Can a vested right be abandoned? SOUTH CAROLINA (9/20/99)-- Sometime in the 1970s, Gay Dolphin erected a rooftop billboard sign for its business. The sign could be seen for seven or eight blocks. In 1979, the city enacted a zoning ordinance that prohibited rooftop signs in the area where the sign was located. The ordinance provided that signs made illegal by the ordinance had an amortization period of three years to compen- sate for their removal. Three years after the adoption of the ordinance all roof mounted billboards or outdoor advertising structures had to be removed. In 1985, the director of construction services for the city wrote a letter to Gay Dolphin explaining that the sign was illegal for several reasons. Gay Dol- phin responded that state statutes concerning outdoor advertising required that just compensation be paid by the governmental authority removing a legally erected sign located in view of an interstate or a federal aid primary highway. Thc sign was located on a federal aid primary highway. Gay Dolphin wrote that it was not aware of any offer to pay just compensation for the removal of the sign. The city did not respond, so Gay Dolphin assumed the city changed its mind or backed off from its position. In I989, Hurricane Hugo threatened the S.C. coast, and Gay Dolphin re- moved the sign facing. However, the sign structure remained on top of the building. Shortly after the storm, the city sent Gay Dolphin a letter stating that the sign could not be replaced because it was more than 50 percent damaged. According to Gay Dolphin, Hurricane Hugo had only slightly damaged the sign. The panels had been removed in anticipation of the hurricane, but three wooden dolphins on metal poles above the sign needed to be straightened, and the metal welded in two places. Gay Dolphin estimated the cost of repairs to the sign, which was worth more than $5,000, to be approximately $200. Gay Dolphin then challenged the city's more than 50 percent damage as- sessment. Three sign companies were willing to say that the sign was only 10 percent damaged. With this information, Gay Dolphin asked for permission from the director of construction services to put the sign back up. The request was denied. Although Gay Dolphin knew that a decision of the community appearance board becomes final unless appealed, it arranged a meeting with the city man- ager. The city manager and Gay Dolphin discussed just compensation and whether the sign was damaged. Gay Dolphin agreed to take down the rooftop sign if it was granted a single pole sign with two faces to put in its place. Gay Dolphin left the meeting with the impression that the city manager was going to get back to it on the situation. For five years after the hurricane there was no sign on the structure. Then, a sign face was installed on the existing sign frame. The city sued. The city argued that Gay Dolphin had abandoned the sign under the city's abandonment ordinance. The ordinance terminated non-conforming uses after the prop.e, rty owner allowed the sign to remain vacant for three months.