Agenda - Council - 11/13/2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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For this reason, state departments of transportation have carefully studied the design and location of dynamic signs within the highway right-of-way. Their goal is to convey a message to the traveling public in a manner that is as straight -forward and readable as possible without being a visual "attraction". The goal of the outdoor advertising sign is to be a visual attraction outside the right-of-way, possibly making it a source of driver distraction. Nevertheless, the actual change in crash rates influenced by the presence of any specific device has not been quantified in a manner that fully isolates the impacts of an electronic sign. Recent studies conducted by FHWA and others have cited the need for further research. In the interest of promoting public safety, this report recommends that electronic signs be viewed as a form of driver distraction and a public safety issue. Therefore, the ordinance recommendations identified here should be considered. These recommendations should be reviewed in the future as additional research becomes available. With respect to regulatory measures for electronic outdoor advertising signs, it is important that local governments take a thorough approach to updating their ordinances to address this issue. For example, an ordinance that addresses sign motion, but does not address brightness and intensity levels may leave the door open for further controversy. This report seeks to identify all of the aspects of electronic outdoor advertising devices that are subject to regulation. It does not specifically state what those regulations should be (e.g. the size of electronic signs), since these are all things that policy makers and staff must take into careful consideration. Further, as driver distraction and resulting influences on safety do not, in a practical sense, distinguish between on - premise and off -premise signage, this distinction is not highlighted in the recommendations below. Regulatory Measures recommended for consideration To properly address the issue of dynamic signage, it is recommended that the sign code address the following: I. Identify specific areas where dynamic signs are prohibited. This would typically be done by specifying certain zoning districts where they are not allowed under any circumstances. If dynamic signs are to be allowed in specific areas, this could be done by zoning district (only higher level commercial districts are recommended for consideration) or by zoning overlay related to specific purposes (e.g. entertainment or sports facility district) or to specific roadway types. 2. Determine the acceptable level of operational modes in conjunction with such zoning districts or overlays. The various levels include: a. Static display only, with no transitions between messages, b. Static display with fade or dissolve transitions, or transitions that do not have the effect of moving text or images, c. Static display with scrolling, traveling, spinning, zooming in, or similar special effects that have the appearance of movement, animation, or changing in size, or get revealed sequentially rather than all at once (e.g. letters dropping into place, etc.), and 26