[CC 1988 §63.800; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
A.
The
uncontrolled placement of newsracks in public right-of-way presents
an inconvenience and danger to the safety and welfare of persons using
such right-of-way, including pedestrians, persons entering and leaving
vehicles and buildings, and persons performing essential utility,
traffic control and emergency services.
B.
Newsracks
so located as to cause an inconvenience or danger to persons using
public right-of-way, and unsightly newsracks located therein, constitute
public nuisances.
C.
It
is a matter of public necessity that the City of Lake Saint Louis
Board of Aldermen protect children and unconsenting adults in and
on its public streets, sidewalks, transportation facilities and other
public right-of-way from viewing such public displays of offensive
sexual material. Such displays are thrust indiscriminately upon unwilling
audiences of adults and children and constitute assaults upon individual
privacy.
D.
The
provisions and prohibitions hereinafter contained and enacted are
in pursuance of and for the purpose of securing and promoting the
public health, morals and general welfare of persons in the City of
Lake Saint Louis in their use of public right-of-ways.
[CC 1988 §63.810; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
As used in this Article, the following terms have these prescribed
meanings:
The person responsible for placing and maintaining a newsrack
in a public right-of-way.
Any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage
unit or other dispenser installed, used or maintained for the display
and sale of newspapers or other news periodicals.
The showing with less than a fully opaque covering of the
genitals, pubic hair, buttocks, natal cleft, perineum, anus or anal
region of any person, other than a child under the age of puberty,
or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernible turgid
state.
The work in which the representations appear, taken as a
whole, appeals to the prurient interest and patently depicts or portrays
the prohibited sexually explicit material in a manner which taken
as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific
value.
That area between the sidewalks and the curb of any street
and, where there is not a sidewalk, that area between the edge of
the roadway and property line adjacent thereto. "Parkway" shall also include any area within roadway which is not open to
vehicular travel.
Any material suggesting or conveying a visual image and includes,
but is not limited to, a photograph, painting or drawing.
That portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily
used for vehicular travel.
Any pictorial material depicting human sexual intercourse,
human or animal masturbation, bestiality, oral intercourse, anal intercourse,
human-animal intercourse, excretory functions, homosexual acts, direct
physical stimulation or touching of unclothed genitals or public areas
of the human male or female, flagellation or torture by or upon a
person in the context of a sexual relationship or sexual stimulation.
The material shall be judged without regard to any covering which
may be affixed or printed over the material in order to obscure genital
areas in a depiction otherwise falling within the definition of these
Subsections. Works of art or anthropological significance are not
included within the definition of this Subsection.
Any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians.
All that area dedicated to public use for public street purpose
and shall include, but not be limited to, roadways, parkways, alleys
and sidewalks, private streets or driveways.
[CC 1988 §63.820; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
erect, place, maintain or operate on any street or sidewalk or in
any other public way or place in the City of Lake Saint Louis any
newsrack without first having obtained a permit from the City Development
Administrator specifying the exact location of such rack(s). One (1)
permit may be issued to include any number of newsracks and shall
be signed by the applicant.
[CC 1988 §63.830; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
Application for such permit shall be made in writing to the
City Development Administrator, upon such form as shall be provided
by the City, and shall contain the name and address of the applicant,
the proposed specific location of said newsrack(s), and shall be signed
by the applicant.
[CC 1988 §63.840; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
A.
As
an express condition of the acceptance of such permit, the permittee
thereby agrees to indemnify and save harmless the City of Lake Saint
Louis, its officers, directors and employees against any loss or liability
or damage, including expenses and costs for bodily or personal injury,
and for property damage sustained by any person as the result of the
installation, use or maintenance of a newsrack with the City of Lake
Saint Louis, including any loss which may occur from routine City
maintenance and operations.
B.
Permits
shall be issued for the installation of newsrack or newsracks without
prior inspection of the location but such newsrack or newsracks and
the installation, use or maintenance thereof shall be conditioned
upon observance of the provisions of this Chapter and such reasonable
rules and regulations as may be established by the City Development
Administrator. Permits shall be issued within three (3) business days
after the application has been filed. An annual permit fee of fifty
dollars ($50.00) is required.
[CC 1988 §63.850; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
A.
Any
newsrack which in whole or in part rests upon, in or over any public
sidewalk or parkway shall comply with the following standards:
1.
No newsrack shall exceed four (4) feet in height, thirty (30) inches
in width or two (2) feet in thickness.
2.
No newsrack shall be used for advertising signs or publicity purposes
other than that dealing with the display, sale or purchase of the
newspaper or news periodical sold therein.
3.
Each newsrack shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit
a person using the machine to secure an immediate refund in the event
he/she is unable to receive the publication paid for. The coin-return
mechanism shall be maintained in good working order.
4.
Each newsrack shall have affixed to it in a readily visible place
so as to be seen by anyone using the newsrack a notice setting forth
the name and address of the distributor and the telephone number of
a working telephone service to call to report a malfunction or to
secure a refund in the event of a malfunction of the coin-return mechanism
or to give the notices provided for in this Article.
5.
Each newsrack shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and
in good repair at all times. Specifically, but without limiting the
generality of the foregoing, each newsrack shall be serviced and maintained
so that:
a.
It is reasonably free of dirt and grease.
b.
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint
in the visible painted areas thereof.
c.
It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted
metal areas thereon.
d.
The clear plastic or glass parts thereof, if any, through which the
publication therein are viewed are unbroken and reasonably free of
cracks, dents, blemishes and discoloration.
e.
The paper or cardboard parts of inserts thereof are reasonably free
of tears, peeling or fading.
f.
The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
6.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place or maintain any publication
or material in newsracks which exposes to public view pictorial material
which depicts or appears to depict nudity or offensive sexually explicit
material.
[CC 1988 §63.860; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
A.
Any
newsrack which rests in whole or in part upon or on any portion of
a public right-of way or which projects onto, into or over any part
of a public right-of-way shall be located in accordance with the provisions
of this Section.
1.
No newsrack shall be used or maintained which projects onto, into
or over any part of the roadway of any public street, or which rests
wholly or in part upon, along or over any portion of the roadway of
any public street, private street or drive. All newsracks shall be
placed on a paved surface, secured, anchored or bolted to the ground
so as to avoid tipping.
2.
No newsrack shall be permitted to rest upon, in or over any public
sidewalk or parkway when such installation, use or maintenance endangers
the safety of persons or property, or when such site or location is
used for public utility purposes, public transportation purpose or
other governmental use or when such newsrack unreasonably interferes
with or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic including
any legally marked or stopped vehicle, the ingress into or egress
from any residence or place of business, or the use of poles, posts,
traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailbox or other objects permitted
at or near said location.
3.
No newsrack shall be chained, bolted or otherwise attached to any
fixture located in the public right-of-way, except to other newsracks.
4.
Newsracks may be placed next to each other, providing that no group
of newsracks shall extend for a distance of more than eight (8) feet
along a curb and a space of not less than five hundred (500) feet
shall separate each group of newsracks.
5.
No newsrack shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
a.
Within three (3) feet of any marked crosswalk;
b.
Within twelve (12) feet of the curb return of any unmarked crosswalk;
c.
Within ten (10) feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, Police call
box or other emergency facility;
d.
Within twenty five (25) feet of any driveway;
e.
Within three (3) feet ahead or fifteen (15) feet to the rear of any
sign marking a designated bus stop;
f.
Within three (3) feet of the outer end of any bus bench;
g.
At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians
is reduced to less than six (6) feet;
h.
Within three (3) feet of, or on any public area improved with lawn,
flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping;
i.
Within five hundred (500) feet of any other newsrack on the same
side of the street in the same block containing the same issue or
edition of the same publication;
j.
Shall be restricted in areas other than (HC) Highway Commercial,
(CB) Community Business, (PD) Planned Development, (LI) Light Industrial
and (OP) Office Park zoning districts; and
k.
Not less than ten (10) feet from any curb.
[CC 1988 §63.870; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
Upon determination by the City Development Administrator that
a newsrack has been installed, used or maintained in violation of
the provisions of this Article, an order to correct the offending
condition will be issued to the distributor of the newsrack. Such
order shall be telephoned to the distributor and confirmed by mailing
a copy of the order by certified mail return receipt requested. The
order shall specifically describe the offending condition and suggests
actions necessary to correct the condition. Failure to properly correct
the offending condition within three (3) days (excluding Saturdays
and Sundays and legal holidays) after the mailing date of the order
shall result in the offending newsrack being summarily removed and
processed as unclaimed property. The City Development Administrator
shall cause inspection to be made of the corrected condition or of
a newsrack reinstalled after removal under this Section. The distributor
of said newsrack shall be charged ten dollars ($10.00) inspection
fee for each newsrack so inspected which charge shall be additional
to all other fees and charges required under this Article.
[CC 1988 §63.880; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
Any person or entity aggrieved by a finding, determination,
notice or action taken under the provisions of this Article may appeal
and shall be appraised of his/her right to appeal to the Board of
Adjustment. An appeal must be perfected within three (3) days after
receipt of notice of any protested decision or action by filing with
the office of the City Clerk a letter of appeal briefly stating therein
the basis for such appeal. A hearing shall be held at the next regular
scheduled meeting of the Board of Adjustment after giving fifteen
(15) days' public notice of said hearing and after receipt of the
letter of appeal. Appellant shall be given at least five (5) days'
notice of the time and place of the hearing. The Board of Adjustment
shall give the appellant and any other interested party a reasonable
opportunity to be heard in order to show cause why the determination
of the City Development Administrator should not be upheld. In all
such cases, the burden of proof shall be upon the appellant to show
that there was no substantial evidence to support the action of the
City Development Administrator. A the conclusion of the hearing the
Board of Adjustment shall make a final conclusive determination.
[CC 1988 §63.890; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
In addition to the enforcement procedures provided in this Article,
it shall be within the power and discretion of the City Development
Administrator to suspend or revoke the permit for continued or repeated
violation of infractions of any provision of this Article or any rule,
direction or regulation of the City Development Administrator. Suspension
or revocation shall be mandatory for the third (3rd) offense.
[CC 1988 §63.8100; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
City Administrator, as used in this Article, shall include his/her
designated representative.
[CC 1988 §63.8110; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
In the event a newsrack remains empty for a period of ten (10) publication dates or thirty (30) continuous days, which ever is less, the same shall be deemed abandoned and may be treated in the manner provided in Section 605.390 for newsracks in violation of the provisions of this Article.
[CC 1988 §63.900; Ord. No. 649 §1, 9-11-1989]
In the event the City initiates a civil action to cause the
abatement or removal of any nuisance created by the accumulation of
unsightly, dangerous or noxious personal property as set forth in
this Article, the City shall be authorized to seek the award of costs
and reasonable attorney fees upon the successful prosecution of such
civil action from the court.
