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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-22-07_Streamline Bus Shelters_15 Commission Memorandum REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission FROM: Andy Epple, Director of Planning and Community Development Chris A. Kukulski, City Manager SUBJECT: Bus Shelters MEETING DATE: October 22, 2007 RECOMMENDATION: 1) Consider whether or not to direct staff to initiate a text amendment to allow off-premise advertising on bus shelters; 2) Consider whether Special Temporary Use Permits should be allowed for more “prototype” shelters to be placed around town while an ordinance is being enacted or further considered; 3) Consider whether the City one unified design standard for Streamline bus shelters should be encouraged, or whether multiple styles would be acceptable; and 4) Consider appointing a Bus Shelter Task Force to help sort all this out. BACKGROUND: Streamline Bus operators have an opportunity to obtain bus shelters at no cost from Chandler Communications of Great Falls, which would provide, install, and maintain shelters at approved locations throughout the City in exchange for advertising revenue from off- premise business interests. Chapter 18.52.140 BMC currently prohibits off-premise advertising, so staff has concluded that advertising on the shelters as currently proposed would not comply with Code. Several months ago, the Commission endorsed the idea of issuing A Special Temporary Use Permit (STUP) to allow the placement of one such shelter in front of the Senior Center on Tamarack Street as a “prototype” of what these shelters with off-premise advertising would look like. The prototype shelter has been up and operating for approximately three months; now there is interest from Streamline and Chandler Communications to place several more around town. Additional STUPs could be issued to allow the placement of additional advertising shelters around town while an ordinance is being contemplated or enacted. But, in the long run, an amendment to the Bozeman Municipal Code will be needed to allow these kinds of shelters on a permanent or more frequent basis. UNRESOLVED ISSUES: Some private development interests, such as the group developing at the corner of South Third and Kagy, wish to design and construct unique shelters in front of their properties, to create a shelter design that more reflects the architectural character of their development. Minimum design specs for these shelters would need to be worked up by Streamline and City officials, but we will then be faced with the prospect of no one style of bus shelter occurring throughout town. In this case, common Streamline graphics could be the only unifying design element for all shelters. 372 ALTERNATIVES: Consider appointing a task force to make recommendations to the City Commission regarding strategies for design and placement of bus shelters around town. Other alternatives as suggested by the City Commission. FISCAL IMPACTS: Respectfully submitted, ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Andy Epple, Director of Planning Chris A. Kukulski, City Manager Attachment(s): Email message from Chandler Communications, with pictures attached 373 Good Morning All, I was reviewing the e-mail that was copied to me. I had some some observations on this beautiful Sunday afternoon in Montana. Cole, I am looking forward to working with you on bus shelter design. The shelters take a lot of abuse, wear and tear on the streets. The only tried and true system to sustain a beautiful shelter for twenty to thirty years is steel and aluminum with a heavy coat of bronze colored powder coating. A Great Falls Service Club erected wooden shelters and they looked pretty worn within a year. They got beat-up pretty bad and had to be taken down. A well maintained, strong shelter will say a lot about Streamline. One of the long term support services that Chandler Communications provides is the cleaning. Touch-up and waxing of the painted surfaces weekly. For security reasons the walls are glass. This also needs attention to look neat and tidy. I was thinking that the steel bus shelter structure, the concrete pad and steel bench could be placed as in a standard installation. This is the part of the bus shelter that gets the greatest ware. I think the roof and roof line is very important part of the overall look. Could AIAS design the roof structure? There are several "stock" roof designs, but I think we could come up with nice architectural lines that fit the environment. Maybe a different design for each area of the city and/or campus locations. The bolt pattern for the roof attachment to the shelter structure is the same on all the nine foot bus shelters. I will send you the drawings with the measurements to see what you think. My talk with Andy was very informative. I understand his concern regarding the back-lit displays on the shelter. In our society of capitalism, tourism and marketing, I believe that display advertising can be presented to the public in many different ways. I think Mr. Lear may agree with me that display advertising can be obtrusive, in bad taste and gaudy. Or, it can be beautiful, classical and pleasant to the eye. All of our research and effort has been directed to designing the displays and borrowing from vintage posters. The designs we work from are good because of the interest in the artistic features of the posters. Nearly 100% of the our research has shown strong feelings for designs like the one from the 1939 Olympics held in Switzerland. Subtle design changes to this ski poster could make a perfect display for Moonlight Basin, for example. Currently the lighting that illuminates the poster also serves as security light for passenger safety after dark. I think we can solve any concern about this by either 374 cutting the lumins of the solar output or indirect lighting from above. I strongly believe, and have bet the success of our project, that the public will find these displays pleasant to view and will look forward to seeing more and different images. I would like to have people say "have you seen the artistic posters in the shelters?" There will be no white background, no phone numbers and no specific addresses on the posters. All designs will have to be approved in advance by Vicki Hasler's office. In closing, I see the long term funding of this project will be on the shoulders of the businesses of Bozeman and the surrounding areas. The public will view these bus shelter sponsors as companies that support mass transit and Streamline. In today's environment "green" companies are good companies and will prosper in Montana. This makes the third leg of a win/win for Streamline. Beautiful bus shelters with artistic posters, happy passengers kept out of sun, snow and wind and a private sector willing to fund the project in exchange for sponsorship of the shelters. Chandler Communications administrates and funds all facets of the bus shelter program. I would invite anyone wanting to discuss any points I didn't address to call or e-mail me. I look forward to meeting with all of you to talk about bus shelters for Streamline. Gary Walrack President Chandler Communications 406-590-4279 375 376 377 378 379 380