07-25-07 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL JULY 25, 200'7 pointed out the maximum letter size is proposed at 10 inches. Montour felt that was an adequate letter size, and noted that most reader board lettering is 8 inches in size. The Planner reviewed point 7 relative to the change period for this signage. The ordinance as proposed allows the sign message to change once every 24 hours. The Minnetonka ordinance allows a 20 minute change interval For dynamic signage. However, an agreement was negotiated with Clear Channel that would allow an elecU~onie billboard message to change ever 8 seconds provided that two other billboards were removed. Blesener suggested allowing the signage to change once every hour. Keis indicated that he could support a change once every 3 to 5 minutes. McGraw agreed that he could support a change that was in intervals of minutes. Blesener suggested that he would rather start out with a longer interval with the thought that it could be shortened if there are no problems with the signage. Keis pointed out that allowing changes in minutes or hours, it is likely that someone driving along the freeway would see two sign changes at the maximum. Allan stated that she could support a signage change interval that is in minutes, not seconds. Blesener asked what is the typical time change interval that other cities are adopting. The City Planner indicated that it is all over the board, but estimated the average to be between 10 and 20 minutes. It was the consensus of the Council to support a 10 minute sign change interval. The Planner reviewed point 8 which would make dynamic signage subject to the City's Architectural Guidelines The Planner felt that this would address the issue of brightness, and the Architectural Guidelines require that signage lettering is reversed out from a dark background, resulting in less white space and control of brightness. The Planner reviewed points 9 and 10, and noted his recommendation for requiring a license for the installation of dynamic signage. The licensing requirement results in the applicant signing a form agreeing to signage regulations and provides the City with another enforcement vehicle. The Planner suggested that he also include a clause requiring that electronic signage be limited to self-contained messages. Keis asked about requiring electronic signage to carry public service announcements and Amber Alerts. The Planner reported that this requirement was part of Minnetonka's settlement agreement with Clear Channel. The Council had discussion about the feasibility of this requirement, noting that while the technology is likely there to make this 12