'They're garish.' Lexington council considers allowing electronic billboards.

The Lexington council is weighing whether to allow digital billboards more than a decade after the city made an advertising company remove one from Nicholasville Road.

A state law passed last year allows cities to adopt ordinances permitting digital and electronic billboards that can change messages. A subcommittee of council members will eventually be appointed to study the issue. The issue was discussed during the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Environmental Quality and Public Works committee meeting Tuesday.

Planning Commissioner Derek Paulsen told the committee Tuesday that city staff had looked at other cities' ordinances regarding digital billboards.

"There is not a standard," Paulsen said. "Each community has put their spin on it."

Billboards are now only allowed abutting a federal or state highway in Fayette County. The same would be true for digital billboards, Paulsen said.

Paulsen said other cities' ordinances also regulate the amount of light billboards can emit. Many cities only allow one digital billboard per intersection, require a distance of 2,500 feet between them and don't allow the message to change more frequently than once every eight seconds. The messages and transitions must be static with no flashing or motion of light.

Other common restrictions include requiring billboards to not exceed 400 square feet in area and to be orientated towards the roadway.

"This is just a starting point for further discussions," Paulsen said.

Paulsen also cautioned that if the city allows digital billboards, other businesses will want to add digital signs, which are different than billboards and are also currently prohibited.

"All of this needs more discussion," Paulsen said. "When you get into the regulation of it; it gets into things that we are not used to regulating."

Distracted driving also is a concern, he said.

Thomas Fahey of Lamar Advertising told the council Tuesday he sells digital billboards in Cincinnati and other Ohio cities

"There have never been instances of distracted driving," Fahey said. "The Federal Highway Commission has issued a report that there is no issue of distracted driving with digital billboards."

Others on council questioned why digital billboards were needed and if any citizens had requested the council look at the ordinance.

"Will this proposal solve any problem?" asked Vice Mayor Steve Kay. He said allowing digital billboards would help advertisers but he questioned if any member of the public wants them.

Councilman Kevin Stinnett has asked the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee to consider digital billboards.

Stinnett said there have been people who have asked why Lexington does not allow electronic billboards. The billboards could also be used by the city for important public safety announcements, he said.

Councilwoman Amanda Bledsoe said the signs are no more distracting than cell phones, but Councilman Jake Gibbs scoffed at the claim digital signs are not distracting.

"They are by design distracting," Gibbs said. "I think they are garish to be honest. "

Gibbs and others said they doubted that the public, if they are allowed to speak on the issue, would support it.

Councilwoman Angela Evans, whose district includes an area on New Circle Road where many billboards are located, said she would be interested in hearing more about the proposal.

Many cities require the removal of traditional billboards when digital billboards go up, which cuts down on the overall number of billboards. The number of billboards in her district is a problem, she said.

In May 2007, the city asked Lamar to take down a billboard on Nicholasville Road because it violated the city's ordinance that prohibits signs that flash or blink.

In 2013, the city of Nicholasville also asked Lamar advertising to turn off its electronic billboards after the company put up four of them along U.S. 27. Nicholasville officials said the digital billboards violated its sign ordinance, which Lamar disputed.

Stinnett said the subcommittee will likely not start its work until summer because the council must pass a budget before July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 4:11 PM with the headline "'They're garish.' Lexington council considers allowing electronic billboards.."