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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Ind. Law - "Electronic signs stir debate"

James D. Wolf Jr. reports today for the Gary Post-Tribune:

VALPARAISO -- Battles are brewing over electronic signs in rural Porter County as rules get more restrictive toward signs that flash, scroll messages or simulate movement.

Sometime in January or February, the Porter County Commissioners will vote whether to restrict electronic signs -- even those that tell time and temperature. The Board of Zoning Appeals has tabled requests for three electronic signs.

The restrictions have received a favorable recommendation from the Porter County Plan Commission at its Dec. 12 meeting.

"We're trying to keep the rural atmosphere, and you can't have that with signs for gentlemen's clubs and fireworks," said Robert Harper, county commissioner and plan commission member.

This would amend the Unified Development Ordinance passed this summer, which allowed for "static message" electronic signs, as well as "semi-static," but doesn't define them.

Manually placed text would be allowed, Harper said.

The plan commission has a vision for Porter County where "we'll see trees and grass and deer," Harper said.

Banks would need a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals to have a temperature sign, county planner Robert Thompson said earlier in December.

However, owners of sign requests that are on hold at the BZA, and under current restrictions, say that they're being mistreated while board members review a flood of paperwork regarding the safety of electronic signs.

On Aug. 2, 2007 the ILB had this entry, headed "High-tech billboards targeted: Kentucky officials want them gone." A Cincinnati Enquirer story is quoted:
Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet has told outdoor advertising companies operating in Northern Kentucky that the digital boards should be torn down, turned off or converted back to static displays. No state law specifically permits electronic billboards, and their changing messages may violate other state and federal highway rules, the cabinet says.

Meanwhile, today, the Kenton County Planning Commission is to consider a ban on any more high-tech signs at least through Dec. 31, when a consultant can recommend new sign regulations.

Twelve electronic billboards have been planted in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky along Interstates 75, 71, 275 and 471. At night, they're often the brightest objects in the landscape.

Some motorists love the sharp color and rotating ads. Critics say they're a neighborhood nuisance and perhaps unsafe. * * *

Ohio permits the digital signs, provided each commercial message remains fixed for at least 8 seconds, and that the sign itself is at least 1,000 feet from another multiple-message board.

Some 156 electronic displays already line the state's interstates and highways, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. Another 13 are in the pipeline.

The entry goes on to ask "What about Indiana," pointing to HEA 1373, passed last year, which allows, according to a story by Patrick Guiane of the NWI Times dated Feb. 13, 2007, "moving interstate billboards into the digital age."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 26, 2007 07:45 AM
Posted to Indiana Law