The Community Appearance Commission shall have the following powers and duties:
(A) To initiate, promote and assist in the implementation of programs of general community beautification in the city;
(B) To seek to coordinate the activities of individuals, agencies and organizations, public and private, whose plans, activities and programs bear upon the appearance of the city;
(C) To provide leadership and guidance in matters of area or community design and appearance to individuals, and to public and private organizations and agencies;
(D) To make studies of the visual characteristics and problems of the city, including surveys and inventories of an appropriate nature, and to recommend standards and policies of design for the entire area, any portion of neighborhood thereof, or any project to be undertaken;
(E) To make recommendations on certain special use permit applications in accordance with the procedures established in the zoning ordinance;
(F) To prepare both general and specific plans for the improved appearance of the city; (These plans may include the entire area or any part thereof and may include private as well as public property. The plans shall set forth desirable standards and goals for the aesthetic enhancement of the city or any part thereof within its area of planning and zoning jurisdiction, including public ways and areas, open spaces and public and private buildings and projects.)
(G) To request, from the proper officials of any public agency or body, including agencies of the state and its political subdivisions, its plans for public buildings, facilities or projects to be located within the planning and zoning jurisdiction of the city;
(H) To review these plans and to make recommendations regarding their aesthetic suitability to the appropriate agency or to the planning or governing board; (All plans shall be reviewed by the Commission in a prompt and expeditious manner and all recommendations of the Commission with regard to any public project shall be made in writing. Copies of the recommendation shall be transmitted promptly to the Planning Board and/or the Board of Commissioners and/or Board of Adjustment, as appropriate and to the appropriate agency.)
(I) To formulate and recommend to the Board of Commissioners the adoption of amendments of ordinances, including the zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations and other local ordinances regulating the use of property, that will, in the opinion of the Commission, serve to enhance the appearance of the city and its surrounding areas;
(J) To direct the attention of city officials to needed enforcement of any ordinance that may in any way affect the appearance of the city;
(K) To seek voluntary adherence to the standards and policies of its plans;
(L) To enter, in the performance of its official duties and at reasonable times, upon private lands and make examinations or surveys;
(M) 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 studies and reports as will, in the opinion of the commission, advance the cause of improved municipal appearance;
(N) To conduct public meetings and hearings, giving reasonable notice to the public thereof; and
(O) To study, investigate, counsel and develop and /or update annually, and administer a written plan for the care, preservation, pruning, planting, replanting, removal or disposition of trees and shrubs in parks, along streets and in other public areas. Such plan will be presented annually to the City Council and, upon its acceptance and approval, shall constitute the official comprehensive city tree plan for the city.
(`86 Code, § 2-429) (Ord. 83-1-1, passed 1-11-83; Am. Ord. 16-05-01, passed 5-10-16)
Statutory reference:
Powers and duties of community appearance
commission, see G.S. § 160A-452