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Commissioner Watkins said he feels it is better to have a very low rate of message • turnover and that the other cities' restrictions on brightness and transitions were a good idea. He and Noble both expressed concerns about enforcement, which has been an issue for other cities. Commissioner Hasegawa said it is important to place very clear boundaries with clear measures for enforcement. The city needs to have specific limits for size and distance from residential areas and brightness. This would fall into the area of public safety. One city even had limits on sound effects. Salzberg summed up the concerns so far: impact on neighbors, safety and energy use. Noble added esthetics. Anderson noted that in Dallas the neighborhoods with dynamic signs had quite a different esthetic quality than what is considered appropriate in Falcon Heights -much more commercial. Commissioner Rodich suggested that restricting the percentage of signage that could be dynamic would be an incentive to businesses to consider whether they might not be better served by a larger static sign. Commissioners discussed the function of time and temperature signs, whether they were more of an "attention getter" or an amenity. Hasegawa reviewed the regulations in Bloomington and noted the general • similarities to our code with the added specifics for dynamic signs. He feels the more specific regulations we have, the less contentious it would be. He suggests following the Bloomington model. Anderson objected that Bloomington is making the effort to be much more of a commercial center, while Falcon Heights is more residential. She asked "Why do we need to permit these signs at all?" Hasegawa said he felt that the specific restrictions, such as in Bloomington, would rule out the objectionable ones. Watkins brought up the concern from two meetings ago that prohibiting dynamic signs altogether would be a legal risk to the City. City Attorney Jamnik described how a total prohibition might be considered arbitrary and capricious by the courts, which is why many cities allow at least gas station price signs and time and temperature. Salzberg asked if there is some way of differentiating content like time and temperature or gasoline prices from advertising. In response to a question from Anderson, Jamnik said that Bloomington has not had any challenges. Most of the other cases he knows of have been settled. The system has more or less "settled" and cities have a "menu of options" that have been fairly well established in the Twin Cities, and as long as Falcon Heights does not stray too far from them, the city should be in a relatively "safe harbor." In this part of the country there is strength in numbers. It is up to the city which options it chooses. City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of June 24, 2008 -Page 2 of 4