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Item No: 07D Meeting Date: Sept 26, 2011 Type of Business: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: First Reading and Introduction of Ordinance 864, an Ordinance Amending Chapter 1008 of the Mounds View Municipal Code Pertaining to Dynamic Display Signs Introduction: The City amended its sign code on January 12, 2009 to include operational requirements and conditions for the use of dynamic display signage with the adoption of Ordinance 816. The ordinance instituted several regulations regarding such signs as well as creating a conversion process by which billboard companies could install a dynamic display billboard face if it removed two-full faces elsewhere in the community. The City Council discussed potential revisions at its work session on September 6, 2011. Discussion: Since the adoption of the ordinance in 2009, it has become evident that that the amount of time that each unique message must be held on dynamic signs was more than necessary. The intent of the ten second hold requirement was to prevent the sign’s message from becoming a distraction to motorists. It has become clear that the hold time is much longer than it needs to be. As a means to assess a more appropriate hold time, messages on the City Hall sign rotate every three seconds after spending a couple weeks rotating on a four second basis. The three second hold time does not appear to rotate too quickly or pose a distraction. In addition to the minimum hold requirement, the Code also provide an allowance for dynamic signs where the background must be held for ten seconds but secondary graphics were allowed to blend in and out of the message in a soft transition. This allowance has been utilized by one area business without incident or complaint. For this reason as well, staff believes the ten-second hold requirement could be reduced to allow for faster transition between sign impressions without adversely affecting public safety. The proposed hold time reflected in the attached ordinance is three seconds. Billboards In the time that has passed since Ordinance 816 was adopted in 2009, many dynamic display billboards have been erected in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Staff is not aware of any incidents or complaints arising from such signs, and it would seem that many of the original concerns expressed regarding such signs have not come to fruition. The Council discussed this point at the August work session and expressed interest in revising the City Code to be more permissive, as the present requirements effectively discourage conversion of a billboard to a dynamic display.