Title
Ordinance - Third and Final Reading on an Ordinance Approving Proposed Amendment of Section 7100, Sign Standards of the Zoning Ordinance to Establish Definition and Regulations for Electronic Message Center and Replace Definition and Regulations for Message Centers (OA#15-012)
Requested Action
To consider the subject ordinance amendment.
Recommendation
The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on October 19, 2015 and voted 6-0 to recommend approval. Commissioner Polozola was absent.
Description/History
First Reading - October 26, 2015
The City Council initiated the proposed amendment and directed the Planning and Zoning Commission to forward a recommendation. The proposed amendments will:
- Replace the definition for “Message Center” with a new definition to read: “Electronic Message Center (EMC): A sign that utilizes computer-generated messages or some other electronic means of changing copy.”
- Replace the term “Message Center” with “Electronic Message Center” throughout the Sign Standards
- Allow Electronic Message Center only as part of a monument sign, not as a wall sign
- Enact Special Standards for Electronic Message Centers:
1. Electronic Message Centers (EMC) shall be equipped with a sensor or other device that automatically determines the ambient illumination and shall be programmed to automatically dim to within 0.3 footcandles over ambient illumination at night as measured per the EMC Illumination Measurement Criteria of the International Sign Association.
2. The applicant receiving a sign permit for an EMC must provide a report demonstrating compliance with the requirements in Paragraph 1 above from a third party consultant prior to final inspection approval of the EMC.
3. When a complaint is received, the City at its discretion may require the owner or operator of an EMC to provide an updated report to verify compliance with the requirements in Paragraph 1 above within five (5) business days.
The new regulations will not apply to existing message centers.
Second Reading - November 9, 2015
Existing electronic message centers (EMC) that have been asked to reduce brightness due to complaints:
1. Walnut Ridge Baptist Church sign on Hwy 360
2. Day Care Center sign at SW corner of N Walnut Creek Dr and E Debbie Ln
3. Kwik Car Wash sign at NE corner of E Broad St and Cannon Dr (across from Chic fil-A)
4. Dental clinic at NE corner of Matlock Rd and Debbie Ln
Regarding the proposal to retrofit existing EMCs for compliance, our research shows that there is not an easy or inexpensive solution for the owners since the existing EMCs vary in age and manufacturer. As the City Attorney and staff has previously advised, these EMCs are pre-existing permanent improvements and should be grandfathered as such.
Staff is procuring a professional light meter that can actually measure the brightness of EMCs.
Please note that the proposed regulations do not establish an absolute brightness limit for EMCs. The regulations are intended to establish a not-to-exceed limit relative to ambient lighting. So, in the case of an EMC in a brightly lit gas station, it could be much brighter than an EMC in a low-activity area lit only by streetlights or path lighting.
The International Sign Association recommends that at night, EMC light output should not exceed 0.3 footcandle (fc) above ambient lighting. That is a very restrictive standard when compare to the footcandle (fc) level for various situations recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society:
- General Office 50 fc
- General Reading 30 fc
- Bank Lobby 10 fc
- Hotel Corridors, Stairs 5 fc
- Computer Lab Monitor 3 fc
- Building Exterior Entrance, Active 5 fc
- Building Exterior Entrance, Inactive 1 fc
- Garden Path, Steps 1 fc
- Flower Beds 5 fc
Prepared By
Felix Wong, Director of Planning
817-276-4228