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Council weighs allowing a single digital sign as staff reviews billboard code
Summary
Council members heard a pitch from Civic Digital Displays for a digital sign at Eagle and Business 24 and debated whether to amend the city's 55 mph corridor limitation; members expressed cautious interest in community messaging but raised safety, aesthetic and precedent concerns.
Civic Digital Displays told Washington's Committee of the Whole on July 14 that a single, architecturally enhanced digital sign could provide community messaging and low-cost advertising options for small businesses.
"We really really want to be part of the community and work with the community," Jeff Gablehousen said as he described designs the company uses in nearby towns. His son, Cody Gablehousen, added that the company offers advertising tiers "as little as $200 a month" and would reserve space for public messages.
Staff explained the legal constraint that limits new billboards to corridors with a minimum posted speed of 55 mph, effectively confining billboards to the US-24 corridor. John, a planning staffer, told the council a prior variance application for an electronic sign at Eagle and Business 24 was unanimously recommended for denial by the Planning & Zoning Commission and that any new sign off the US-24 corridor would require a variance or a code amendment.
Council members said they liked the idea of a sign used for city messaging but worried about location, visual clutter and safety. "That intersection gets pretty busy sometimes of day and I'm not sure about having a big lighted display right there," Alder person Johnson said, citing pedestrian and school crossing activity. Chief Jeff Stevens cautioned about potential glare and "a flicker there" from digital displays and said evidence about crash risk is mixed.
Several alderpersons said they would consider a limited or welcome-style sign rather than opening the code broadly to commercial billboards. Others urged staff to differentiate between a city "welcome" sign that carries community messaging and commercial digital billboards that could set a precedent along Business 24.
Council took no formal action. Staff and applicants were advised to return with further detail, including more precise locations, renderings, traffic-safety review and potential ordinance language if a code amendment is desired.
Next steps: staff will coordinate additional information for council consideration at a future meeting.
