Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind

Council member David Wilson would like to get rid of this "junky-looking sign."
A proposed digital billboard ordinance might just let him do that. 

The City Council voted Tuesday evening to extend the current ordinance governing digital billboards 90 days to give the staff time to return with a new ordinance that guarantees there will be a reduction in the total number of all billboards along I-35 and that the council will have the ability to determine where digital signs can be located.

The motion came after more than an hour of discussion and a short public hearing on the matter with most of the discussion involving the Planning & Zoning Commission’s recommendation the week before to force billboard companies to remove four square feet of existing billboards for each square foot of digital signs installed. Because the ordinance did not address the minimum size of a proposed digital billboard, many council members felt the ordinance, as proposed Tuesday, would allow billboard companies to install a raft of smaller billboards and therefore there would be no reduction in the total number of billboards.

"I’m not in favor of removing four square feet for every one square foot of digital because that could result in a number of smaller digital signs," council member Shane Arabie said. "Removing four faces for every one of digital, I’m OK with that. My objective is to reduce the amount of clutter on our highway. That’s my objective. So I would like to have a minimum size (for digital billboards) we put in place."

"In theory you could wind up having exactly the same number of billboards, just smaller ones," Mayor Todd Webster added. "That’s something we need to fix before we move forward."

Determining just how many billboards Kyle will lose if and when this ordinance finally takes effect is a tricky proposition. For one thing, it depends on whether the council is going to permit billboards to be erected with digital signs on either side of them. The Planning and Zoning Commission said "no" to that, but I could not get a sure feeling on how a majority of the council felt about that idea. It also depends on whether the structures that will be replaced have signs on both sides of the structure and it appears most of them do. Using the 4-to-1 ratio, that means a billboard containing one digital sign could replace two two-sided billboards. However, a billboard with digital signs on both sides would replace four two-sided structures. It should also be noted that many companies that own billboards might not be eligible to erect a digital board which also means they would not have to surrender any as well. Seven different companies have billboard structures in Kyle and only two of them, Gunnerson and Lamar (with seven structures each), have more than two.

Council member Samantha Bellows also mentioned she was "a little concerned" about the possibility that a billboard on the southbound side of I-35 immediately south of West Center Street could go digital.

"You brought it back to a point I forgot to ask," Mayor Webster told his colleague. "Is there is a discretionary element to this?"

"That is my concern," Ms. Bellows replied.

Council member David Wilson also expressed concern about the billboard pictured above. Wilson called it "a junky looking sign. I hope this is one that will get cycled out." The sign, which is located on the southbound service road just north of Opal Road, is owned by Gunnerson.

However, Wilson did believe the council could solve the square-footage problem during Tuesday’s meeting and vote on an amended version of the proposed ordinance.

"With all the discussions that Planning and Zoning did, I was happy with their modifications," Wilson said. "Four to one works for me. Smaller digital signs, I’m not for that but I’m ready to move if we could work on the square footage tonight."

Mayor Webster, on the other hand, believed the square footage wasn’t the only issue that needed to be settled before a vote on passage could be taken.

"I think there’s a few things in here we need to make sure we get right." the mayor said. "I am absolutely not supportive of using the square footage because I think we could end up with 19 little signs and that’s not the policy objective.

"I’m also hearing a difference of opinion," he continued. "Everyone seems to have a slightly different concern on an issue that’s been raised. But we need to continue this. I think the prudent thing to do is extend the current ordinance for a period of time with a time-certain for it to come back and take up the Planning and Zoning’ commission’s recommendations with staff’s modifications based on the concerns that were raised. I’m not suggesting we put this down and not address it. That’s not my suggestion. But I’m not hearing a consensus here. Tell me if I’m wrong but I think there are some relevant things we need to make sure are very specifically addressed in the ordinance. And, if it’s lawful, I would like to see some discretionary element to this. It would be the worse thing (to have a digital billboard) right there (at Center & I-35).

"If our policy objective is to pull down some signs, we need to make sure this ordinance accomplishes that," the mayor concluded.

With that, Ms. Bellows made the motion that extended the current ordinance for at least 90 days at which time the city’s staff is supposed to return with a replacement that addresses the council’s concerns.