(A) It shall be the duty of the Community Appearance Commission, generally:
(1) To initiate, promote and assist in the implementation of programs of general community beautification in the city and its environs.
(2) To seek to coordinate the activities of individuals, agencies, organizations and groups, public or private, whose plans, activities and programs bear upon the appearance of the city and its environs.
(3) To provide leadership and guidance in matters of design and appearance to individuals, organizations and groups, public or private, who shall request such assistance.
(4) To make studies of the visual assets and liabilities of the community, including surveys and inventories of an appropriate nature, and to suggest standards and policies of design for the entire community, any neighborhood thereof or any individual project to be undertaken therein.
(5) To prepare both general and specific plans for the improved appearance of the city. Such plans may include the entire community or any part thereof, and may include private as well as public property. Such plans shall set forth desirable standards and goals for the aesthetic enhancement of the city or any part thereof, including public ways and areas, open spaces, and public and private buildings and projects.
(6) To participate in appropriate ways in the implementation of such plans. To this end, the following specific powers are hereby conferred upon the commission:
(a) To request from the proper officials of any public agency, including the city, the county, the city school district, the city housing authority, all public utilities and any state or federal agency, its plans for public buildings, facilities or projects in the city and its environs.
(b) To review such plans and to make recommendations regarding their aesthetic suitability to the appropriate agency or governing board and to the City Council. The Appearance Commission shall review such plans in a prompt and expeditious manner. All recommendations of the commission with regard to any public project shall be in writing, and copies of such recommendations shall be transmitted promptly to the City Council.
(c) To formulate and recommend to the Planning Board and City Council, such ordinances and amendments to this Code or other existing ordinances (including the zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations, and other local ordinances regulating the use and development of property), as will, in the opinion of the commission, serve to enhance the appearance of the city and its environs.
(d) To direct city officials' attention to needed enforcement of this Code or other ordinances which in any way may affect the appearance of the city.
(e) To seek, through any appropriate means, voluntary adherence to the standards and policies of its plans.
(f) To study and make recommendations to the City Council concerning implementation of the powers conferred upon the commission by this division.
(g) To enter, in the performance of its official duties and with the permission of the property owner, upon private lands and make examinations or surveys.
(h) To promote public interest in, and an understanding of, its recommendations, studies and plans, and to that end to prepare, publish and distribute to the public such studies and reports as will, in its opinion, advance the cause of improved community appearance.
(i) To conduct such public meetings and hearings as may in its judgment be deemed necessary, giving reasonable notice to the public thereof.
(j) To conduct an annual meeting at which the programs, problems and policies of the commission shall be presented, and at which the public at large shall be invited to express itself on matters relating to the city's appearance.
('69 Code, § 2-50.3) (Ord. passed 6-8-72)
(B) In addition to other powers and duties, the commission may:
(1) Receive, evaluate and make recommendations on public and private building projects.
(2) Review the appearance of existing businesses in and out of the Central Business District, and make recommendations for improvement.
(3) Make incentive awards to individuals and firms who make outstanding contributions to improve community appearance.
(4) Review proposed streets and subdivisions.
(5) Sponsor a "clean-up, fix-up" week.
(6) Designate an "arbor week" project and sell trees and shrubs to private individuals at cost.
(7) Continually review the provisions of this Code and other ordinances in effect in the city bearing on beautification and appearance. Make recommendations on needed revision of such Code or other ordinances.
(8) Undertake a continuing "anti-litter" campaign.
('69 Code, § 2-50.4) (Ord. passed 6-8-72)