Public hearing on billboards Tuesday
A public hearing on the proposed billboard ban in Watauga
County will be held Tuesday night.
The hearing is required before the commissioners take action on proposed changes to the sign ordinance, which grew out of concerns over digital billboards expressed in the summer of 2008. The commissioners asked the planning board to review the ordinance while enacting a moratorium on new digital billboards.
The planning board recommended a ban on all new billboards while allowing many existing billboards to be converted to digital signs if desired. Existing billboards would be allowed to remain as long as they remain in compliance with existing standards.
The ordinance describes "Changeable electronic variable message signs" as a private sign "which results in an illuminated display or messages or information by the use of a matrix of lamps, .e. digital, LED (light emitting diode) or similar or refined display technology, movable discs, movable panels, light apertures, or other methods, which allow the message change to be actuated by a control mechanism rather than manually changing of message; and which changes the message more often than twice daily."
As proposed, digital messages can't change more frequently than every eight seconds. The county will also maintain the "ongoing discretion" to require that brightness frequency, colors and other qualities be adjusted in order to address safety concerns.
Outdoor-advertising officials had expressed concern about the rate of message frequency, which originally had been proposed at 15-second intervals, as well as what they considered a subjective authority of the county to regulate sign qualities.
The public hearing will be held at the Watauga County Administrative Complex in Boone at 6 p.m.
The revised ordinance as proposed is at http://www.wataugacounty.org.
The hearing is required before the commissioners take action on proposed changes to the sign ordinance, which grew out of concerns over digital billboards expressed in the summer of 2008. The commissioners asked the planning board to review the ordinance while enacting a moratorium on new digital billboards.
The planning board recommended a ban on all new billboards while allowing many existing billboards to be converted to digital signs if desired. Existing billboards would be allowed to remain as long as they remain in compliance with existing standards.
The ordinance describes "Changeable electronic variable message signs" as a private sign "which results in an illuminated display or messages or information by the use of a matrix of lamps, .e. digital, LED (light emitting diode) or similar or refined display technology, movable discs, movable panels, light apertures, or other methods, which allow the message change to be actuated by a control mechanism rather than manually changing of message; and which changes the message more often than twice daily."
As proposed, digital messages can't change more frequently than every eight seconds. The county will also maintain the "ongoing discretion" to require that brightness frequency, colors and other qualities be adjusted in order to address safety concerns.
Outdoor-advertising officials had expressed concern about the rate of message frequency, which originally had been proposed at 15-second intervals, as well as what they considered a subjective authority of the county to regulate sign qualities.
The public hearing will be held at the Watauga County Administrative Complex in Boone at 6 p.m.
The revised ordinance as proposed is at http://www.wataugacounty.org.