DATE: April 1, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
FROM: Andrew Brozyna, Public Works Director
Derek Schweigart, Parks and Recreation Director
DEPARTMENT: Public Works
Parks and Recreation
SUBJECT: REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF A BANNER PROGRAM
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council receive this report and provide direction by Minute Order on the implementation of a Banner Program as proposed by the Ad Hoc Community Beautification Subcommittee.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Ad Hoc Community Beautification Subcommittee (Beautification Subcommittee) was established in 2021 to help identify ways to improve the City’s physical image and appearance. The group developed a list of recommendations, all of which have been completed or incorporated into Capital Improvement Projects or division workplans with the exception of the recommendation for an on-going banner program in which the City would use the light poles in certain locations to install banners for seasonal messaging.
If the City Council wishes to move forward with a Banner Program, staff would propose to add a line item in the Recreation Division FY 2024-2025 budget in the amount of $20,000 as discussed in the Fiscal Impact of this report. However, staff believes it may be prudent to consider waiting to implement this program until after the Recreation Center project has been completed.
Staff requests Council direction by Minute Order regarding how to proceed with this program.
BACKGROUND
On December 13, 2021, the City Council established a new Ad Hoc Beautification Subcommittee to help identify ways to improve the City’s physical image and appearance (including but not limited to the City’s entry landmarks/monuments, signs, etc.) On January 12, 2022, the City Council appointed Mayor Sullivan and Councilmember Froomin as members of the Beautification Subcommittee.
The subcommittee met for the first time on February 22, 2022, and established a list of items to be considered and/or addressed. On March 28, 2022, the City Council received an update on the status of each recommendation. As outlined in that report, five (5) items had been incorporated into the Capital Improvement Program, four (4) were completed or programmed into the operations workload and three (3) required further discussion.
Two of the three discussion items have been resolved. The entry signs are currently undergoing a restoration process, the overpass and on-ramp aesthetic projects were discouraged by Caltrans, and an added item, the Utility Box Art Pilot Program, was brought to the City Council for consideration on March 18, 2024.
ANALYSIS
The final Beautification Subcommittee recommendation that requires Council consideration is the implementation of an on-going banner program. In brief, the Beautification Subcommittee members propose that the City develop seasonal messaging to be printed on banners to be installed on the streetlight poles on East Hillsdale and Foster City Boulevards and/or on the light poles in Leo Ryan Park. Most likely these banners would be changed four times per year, with a new banner installed as the previous banner is removed. The program would be coordinated by the Recreation Division who would develop messaging that complements their annual events programming, with graphics designed by the City’s Communications Division.
Although rarely used, the City does have a Banner Pole Policy which allows certain outside groups to utilize the banner poles for their own messaging. If the City Council were to authorize this seasonal programming message, it would more than likely preclude the use of the banner poles by outside groups. Any outside groups utilizing the banner poles would continue to be subject to the City’s existing Banner Policy which requires the applicant to obtain an encroachment permit and hire a professional installation company.
If the City Council wishes to move forward with a Banner Program, staff would propose to add a line item in the FY 2024-2025 Recreation Division budget in the amount of $20,000 as discussed in further detail in the Fiscal Impact section of this report.
However, due to the level of staff resources currently dedicated to the Recreation Center Rebuild Project, and likely impacts of the Recreation Center Rebuild project to the logistics associated with the annual community events, Staff believes that it may be prudent to consider waiting to implement this program until after the Recreation Center project has been completed. If this is Council’s direction, then the Recreation Division can bring this program back as a line item in a future budget for Council consideration following Recreation Center Rebuild project completion.
CEQA
Not Applicable
FISCAL IMPACT
There are 48 streetlight poles that have banner holders along E. Hillsdale and Foster City Boulevards (2’ W x 4.5’ H) and 21 banner poles in Leo Ryan Park (2’ W x 3’ H). The last time the City created banners in 2021, the cost to print 2 sided banners for the street signs was about $73 each and parks signs was about $35 each. The figures below assume a 3% per year cost escalation factor:
Estimated Printing Costs (first year, per seasonal message): $4,734 •48 banners x $82 each = $3,936
•21 banners x $38 each = $798
Estimated Staff Time (first year, per seasonal message): 86 hours •Message Development/Coordination (Recreation): 24 staff hours •Graphic Design (Communications): 40 staff hours
•Installation/Removal (Maintenance): 22 staff hours (3 staff x 6 hours for street banners and 2 staff x 2 hours for park banners)
Total Program Budget for the first annual (4 message) cycle would be approximately $20,000 in hard costs for printing banners as well as 344 hours of staff time. It would be expected that all or some of the banners could be reinstalled annually for up to 5 years before needing to be reprinted or replaced, so it could be assumed that the average annual program cost would be about $5,000, or one-quarter of the first year cost, plus 100 staff hours since installation costs would remain constant and some coordination time would be anticipated every year.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
City Council Operations and Improved Community Engagement