The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
The 20 or so garden and beautification club members that trekked down to City Hall for yet another public hearing on electronic signs never expected the meeting would end in giddy squeals and group hugs.
But that’s exactly what happened Tuesday night. In a surprising move to everyone in the room, the City Council voted 6-5 for a citywide ban on LED signs. Existing signs will not be affected. Digital billboards, which Council also is considering, were not part of the discussion.
“I am so happy that they finally heard our voices after time and time again,” said Glenda Knowles, president of the city’s beautification commission. “The citizens will be so happy. A battle finally won!”
Club members formed the backbone of opposition to LEDs, which they considered garish, distracting to drivers and an aesthetic nosedive in city beautification efforts. They found inspiration in City Manager Jim’s Spore’s undisguised disdain for LEDs, a feeling he made clear in a scathing letter to the City Council in February calling for a ban.
Until the very end of Tuesday’s meeting, all indications were that Council, led by members Glenn Davis and Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson, had ruled out a ban and was ready to broker a compromise between LED advocates and opponents. The issue had tied up commissions, committees and subcommittees for months. The version aired before the council meeting was the 25th.
The compromise started crumbling when Councilwoman Barbara Henley criticized it as weak. Vice Mayor Louis Jones agreed and said he thought the LED sign outside Bayside High School “looks like a circus sign.”
Henley, Jones, Harry Diezel, Mayor Will Sessoms, Rosemary Wilson and Jim Wood voted for the ban.
Glenn Davis, an LED proponent, said the vote smacks of hypocrisy since the city has signs at the convention center and the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts.
“I would expect we’d follow our own ordinance and remove our own LED signs,” he said.
He criticized the Council for being anti-business and said the businesses that have the signs now will have an unfair advantage over those who can’t get them now.
“It speaks volumes to how Virginia Beach government views business and the ability of business to advertise themselves in a down economy,” he said.
Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122. aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
LED Christmas lights are AWESOME !
I normally use stringlights which i bought from very reputable LED Manufacturers for my chrismass tree and its look just awesome..
Vote Again
This vote should come up again. City Council was not ready for a decision. LED is the way to go in 2010.
I don't know how they can
I don't know how they can ban the method of light in which a sign is lit, that makes no sense. Many of the new business signs on retail buildings are now going LED. LED lights save 90% in energy, are lower maintenance and more colorful. If they want to ban a sign because it scrolls or does acrobatics that is another story, but to ban a sign based on its method of illumination, is ridiculous. Are they going to ban LED Christmas lights on houses?
If they use this broad definition to ban LED signs based on just the LED illumination alone, I see a slam dunk class action suit in the works.
council is bas-ackward
How can we move in to the future of business if we don't utilize the technology and tools afforded to us these days. Instead of banning, they should have placed certain restrictions on size, trip timing, etc.
It's a shame that our tax dollars were wasted on committee, sub-committee and council time when there are far more imortant issues that need to be addressed in our highly taxed city.
Shame on you city council... you're a business owner's worst enemy.
Backwards.
I'm so happy I don't live in Virginia Beach anymore. Every move the council makes is BACKWARDS.
No LED Signs??? Your kidding right? And this is news why?
LED Signs are often found in touristic locations but Virginia Beach isn't a tourist attraction right?
LED signs are great for generating advertising revenue which helps stimulate the economy, but who needs stimulation of the economy when you can have a nice Marigold garden surrounding the McDonald's instead!
So the issue of whether LED
So the issue of whether LED signs are too tacky for Virginia Beach tied up committees, subcommittees, etc. for months. Good to know City Council is spending their energies on what really matters.
And if they're going to ban these signs, they should ban ALL of them, starting with every single LED sign associated with any VB government enterprise.
How did the Wave church get
How did the Wave church get a permit for their LED sign? I didn't think any business could have any sign placed as close to the road as theirs is.
wave church
their permit process took MONTHS for City Council to approve....you can find the process on the vbgov.com site. I believe in VA Beach, signage has to be 7.5 ft inside property line. Just wait til there is an accident at that intersection and the sign is gamaged.....with this new law, will they be allowed to replace?????
21st century
hmmm... so your telling me that the businesses that were complaining about the students that are graduating and are lacking what Virginia Beach schools has now dubbed "21st century skills" can't even move themselves into the 21st century? Wish I hadn't sat in hours of classes so I can learn how to teach kids how to become these 21st century learners when the jobs they will be going into are forced to stay behind! Just a thought....
Another contradiction... but isn't that ALL this city is about from city council to the school board!
BUSHWHACKED?
I have been told by several personally known sources in the sign industry that certain "unnamed" city officials assured local electric sign company owners & reps that a complete ban would NOT be on the table at last night's meeting, and that there was no reason for any of them to show up to defend a large part of their livelihood. While I cannot attest to this as complete truth, it would not surprise me in the least, given the known hostility to that industry by Mr. Spore and his companions in the Virginia Beach City Government.