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Meeting of June 14, 2007 Page 8 <br />Subject: Dynamic Signs <br />Public Comments <br />At the writing of this report, the city had received comments about the proposed <br />ordinance from Clear Channel Outdoor and from Roger Brown of Daktronics (see pages <br />A55-56, a manufacturer of dynamic signs. The following summarizes Clear Channel's <br />comments and staff's responses: <br />It is inappropriate to say that outdoor advertising signs are distracting when the <br />city's own consultants have concluded that there can never be definitive proof of <br />a causal connection between dynamic signs and highway accidents. <br />Response: This comment does not recognize that there are two different <br />concepts. No single study has conclusively proven that a particular dynamic <br />display caused particular traffic accidents that otherwise would not have <br />occurred. Because of the number of variables involved and the impossibility of <br />recreating all of them in a laboratory-type setting, that level of proof is impossible. <br />However, studies performed thus far provide more than sufficient support for the <br />City to conclude that outdoor advertising signs are in fact distracting to drivers, <br />and that distractions can lead to traffic accidents. <br />2. The company usually occupies property as a tenant, and it may not have the <br />authority to excavate to remove foundations. <br />Response: The city requires that foundations be removed as part of all other <br />demolition permits. This is done to protect public safety (from tripping over them) <br />and to avoid problems in the future. <br />The surrender of the state permit should be required upon removal of the sign, <br />not upon issuance of the enhanced dynamic display permit. <br />Response: This makes sense, and the change has been made in the <br />ordinance. An additional sentence is added that provides that the enhanced <br />dynamic display cannot begin to operate until proof is provided that the state <br />permit has been surrendered. <br />4. An enhanced dynamic display permit requires the sign company to commit to <br />never put a dynamic display on another existing sign. What happens if that <br />existing sign is subsequently removed? <br />Response: Subsequent events do not affect the permit. The permit is judged <br />by the circumstances existing at the time the permit is issued. Language was <br />added to the ordinance to clarify this. <br />8- <br />