Oakdale ready for latest billboards
City passes dynamic sign ordinance
Katy Zillmer
staff writer
When digital billboard advertising is ready for the city of Oakdale, the city is ready for it. On June 10, the City Council unanimously passed an amended sign ordinance that includes regulation of electronic billboards - commonly known as dynamic signs.
In recent years, other cities have created or amended similar ordinances and some legal battles with billboard companies have occurred.
In 2007, Oakdale passed an one-year moratorium to research dynamic sign use, safety issues and creating an amended ordinance.
A dynamic sign resembles an enormous television screen with LED bulbs and moving or changing electronic messages.
Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS currently have 10 billboards along freeways in Oakdale, and none are dynamic signs. The amended ordinance requires either company to obtain a license if it plans to convert one of its billboards into a dynamic sign.
Tom McCarver, Clear Channel's vice president of real estate and public affairs, has shared the company's input on the ordinance at several public workshops and meetings.
So far, the city has not heard anything from representatives of CBS.
While McCarver supports the city's ordinance amendment to regulate dynamic signs, he said some of the final requirements the council approved are not favorable for Clear Channel.
The city's chose to require a 60-second minimum display duration for dynamic sign messages, which McCarver insisted at a workshop last month was too long to sell advertising in that format.
Eight seconds is the national standard for advertisements, making it cost-prohibitive for the company to convert its standard billboards with Oakdale's longer time requirement, McCarver said.
Dynamic distractions
When the electronic billboards started springing up along freeways, state troopers and police chiefs around the metro area expressed concern that they were safety hazards. Recent studies conducted for the League of Minnesota Cities "confirm that billboards can tend to distract drivers, dynamic features contribute to the distraction, and even short distractions can increase the risk of accidents."
The League commissioned the studies, conducted by SRF Engineering, after Clear Channel installed two dynamic signs in Minnetonka without permission.
Minnetonka officials cut the power to the signs, and their actions were upheld in Hennepin County court, where a judge ruled Clear Channel was at fault for not obtaining the proper approvals from the west-metro suburb.
Then last year in Maplewood, Clear Channel converted a standard billboard along Interstate 494 into a dynamic sign with 8 second ads.
Maplewood officials had approved a maintenance permit for Clear Channel's billboard, and then were startled when City Hall started receiving complaints about a flashing and blinking sign in the same location. At the time, city staff said they had no forewarning that Clear Channel was switching the billboard to an electronic sign.
According to the LMC's research, individual cities do have regulatory power over billboards - especially the digital type - as long as their ordinances don't interfere with First Amendment rights.
Oakdale's 60-second duration stands for safety and aesthetic reasons for drivers on the highway and any residents living in proximity to the dynamic signs, said Community Development Director Bob Streetar.
"It could be argued if six or eight seconds is safe, that 60 seconds could be safer," Streetar said.
City regulations can be of message duration, text size, brightness or even include a ban of dynamic signs altogether, according to the League of Minnesota Cities.
Billboard exchange
Cities that would like to see fewer standard billboards can also offer incentives for companies installing dynamic signs to remove others in exchange, the research states.
In Oakdale's amended ordinance, every 1 square foot of a dynamic sign installed should be exchanged for 2 square feet of an existing standard billboard.
The requirement was created to reduce the number of standard billboards in Oakdale if dynamic signs do appear, Streetar said.
That poses another issue for Clear Channel, according to McCarver.
The company owns five standard billboards in Oakdale, four adjacent to Interstate 694 and one near Interstate 94.
Since only 5 percent of the total advertising revenue earned by Clear Channel is from dynamic signs, McCarver said it would not be financially feasible to remove the higher-revenue standard billboards.
Despite issues with the city's amended ordinance, McCarver said it does not limit Clear Channel from working with Oakdale as the dynamic sign technology will change in the future.
License to sign
In fact, that is reflected in the city's requirement for dynamic sign owners to obtain an annual license.
Most cities typically issue permits, which do not require companies or individuals to comply with any new rules made to an ordinance, Streetar said.
The League of Minnesota Cities encourages communities to think about dynamic signs sooner rather than later. "Once the signs are up, Minnesota's non-conforming use law arguably grants them 'grandfathered' status, with a narrow exception for safety," the research states.
As digital billboard technology changes, Oakdale staff want to continue to be able to address safety issues and residents' concerns, Streetar said.
If the ordinance is changed, it would only impact the city's regulation of sign operation - such as message duration or brightness - not size or location, he said.
A digital billboard license must be renewed each year, and the city will only issue eight, according to the amended ordinance.
"To operate a dynamic sign is not a right, it is a privilege (and) because technology changes so fast, we want the ability to respond," Streetar said.
Katy Zillmer can be reached at kzillmer@lillienews.com or at 651-748-7822.
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