The Signs, They Are A-Changin'
Lino Moratorium On Digital Billboards Initiated
The Lino Lakes City Council voted at its February 26 meeting to begin the process of enacting a one-year moratorium on "digital billboards" within the city limits.
Community Development Director Michael Grochala explained that the adoption of a moratorium was recommended by City Attorney William Hawkins in response to traffic safety concerns about the billboards' effects on drivers.
Photo by Bruce Cochran
"We want to re-examine our [sign] ordinance," Grochala said.
The new technology can be implemented on standard billboards along area freeways within days. Instead of displaying a single, unlit message, computerized digital technology permits brilliantly visible messages to be displayed to travelers. Eye-catching pictures and slogans can be displayed in quick succession, as frequently as eight seconds.
Signs have already been installed along freeways in Minnetonka, Arden Hills, Maplewood, Minneapolis and Eagan.
The city of Lino Lakes has two major freeways within its borders - Interstates I-35W and I-35E - for a total of about 12 miles.
Although existing signs within the city are few - City Planner Jeff Smyser estimates they number at least five - staff members want to make sure that the city's sign ordinance has been updated to address the new technology.
"The concern is the public safety issue and the aesthetics," Smyser said in the council workshop before the meeting.
Lino Lakes is not the only city with these concerns. A number of other Twin Cities municipalities have, over the past two months, addressed the issue of digital billboards since the city of Minnetonka cut the power to two of Clear Channel's newly-installed billboards in December and incurred the legal wrath of the nation's largest outdoor-advertising company.
St. Paul, Bloomington, Burnsville, and Maplewood are among cities that have recently taken action to put the brakes on new and retrofi tted changeable electronic billboards in their communities while awaiting Clear Channel's lawsuit against the city of Minnetonka to play out.
A common concern is whether the new technology poses a serious distraction to drivers.
Studies performed over the last 25 years have been few, but some have demonstrated an increase in the accident rate from such signs. A 1980 Federal Highway Administration study found that motion or the illusion of motion of lights, including animation, has "the greatest potential for motorist distraction as well as a dominant visual impact on the aesthetic environment."
In its initial arguments to the court, Clear Channel relied upon a Technical Memorandum from the Minnesota Department of Transportation dated May 30, 2003 to justify its eight-second message frequency. But Mike Constant, MnDOT's Metro District Advertising Control Agent, says that the memo doesn't really address the new technology.
"We don't have anything to cover these LEDs [light-emitting diode signs], " he said in a recent interview.
Constant says that MnDOT is currently gathering information from other states in response to the rapidly-evolving technology.
"We're working on it."
In his January 2007 ruling, District Court Judge Lloyd Zimmerman refused to order the city of Minnetonka to turn on the power supply to two signs located on I-394 and I-494. Minnetonka has argued that it has regulated signs within its community for over 40 years.
Like Minnetonka, Lino Lakes has an ordinance in place that specifi cally prohibits flashing signs. But council members want to study the technology further before they allow any such technology upgrades to existing billboards within the city.
"They are very distracting," said Council Member Jeff Reinert at the council workshop.
"We want to go through this discussion . the safest way is to say nobody can do anything until we figure it all out," he said.
Mayor John Bergeson believes that electronic pricing signs at local gas stations or time and temperature signs at local banks make sense. "I'd hate to see us outlaw signs that give a little helpful information," he said.
The ordinance, made by Council Member Donna Carlson and seconded by Council Member Jeff Reinert, was adopted 4-0 (Council Member Stoltz was absent). A second reading is scheduled for the March 12 council meeting. Th e ordinance would take eff ect upon its publication following council action at the second reading.