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Item No: 2 Meeting Date: Sept 6, 2011 Type of Business: Work Session City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Review Potential City Code Revisions Pertaining to Dynamic 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. Discussion: Since the adoption of the ordinance, it has become evident that that the amount of time that each unique message must be held on dynamic signs was more than necessary. Subdivision 9d(5) of Section 1008.10 states the following: The owner or operator of a dynamic display sign shall control and display the primary or background images and messages on the sign so they maintain each display for a minimum of ten (10) seconds. 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. In this same section, the code provides 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, staff believes the ten-second hold requirement could be reduced to allow for faster transition between sign impressions without adversely affecting public safety. As a means to assess a more appropriate hold time, messages on the City Hall sign now change every four seconds, which seems reasonable. In our estimation, the minimum hold time should be no less than three seconds. Billboards In the time that has passed since Ordinance 816 was adopted, 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 the 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.