Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign: As electronic signs become more popular, new regulations considered
Years ago moving electronic signs could only be found in places like Times Square, Moulin Rouge and the Las Vegas strip. Now you can hardly drive from Onalaska to West Salem without passing seven of them.
Sign makers say that electronic signs are the wave of the future and will only become more prevalent as technology improves, prices fall and business operators learn about their ease of use.
In turn, municipal governments have been debating regulations to control electronic signs’ size and location to preserve community standards in advance of their likely growth spurt.
In December 2006, the West Salem Village Board passed an updated 23-page ordinance regulating signs of all types. It covers sandwich boards, billboards, balloons and for-sale signs, but the impetus for the new ordinance was a “rash” of building application permits for signs capable of displaying video, said Village Administrator Teresa Schnitzler.
“We did not wish to have those signs in the village,” said Schnitzler, who added the ordinance needed to be brought up to the 21st century. “I believe that’s the feeling of the (village) board, to prevent sign pollution.”
Similarly, the Onalaska Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on July 24 before endorsing a new sign ordinance that places size and zoning restrictions on electronic signs. Holmen has fewer animated signs, and there has been less of an outcry to update its regulations.
 Matt McCuddin, a Holmen resident and a La Crosse Sign Company employee, works on a new animated sign for a Kwik Trip, one of dozens the convenience store company plans to install around the area. Photo by Adam Bissen |
Paul Fuchsel, president of La Crosse Sign Company, said it is “a proven fact” that a new electronic moving sign will improve a company’s business. Messages can be sent out nearly instantly, and unlike the old sliding placards, letters won’t freeze in the cold, employees won’t complain about changing them in the rain and no one will fall off a ladder while doing so.
Fuchsel said he often assists municipalities in drafting new sign ordinances because he wants regulations to benefit both business and the community. He said sliding placard signs, which are rarely manufactured today, also had objectors when they were first introduced decades ago.
“We just have to be careful that just because a few people say ‘I don’t like it,’ you ruin an opportunity for others that will help them do a good job of marketing their business,” Fuchsel said.
Jason Gilman, Onalaska’s land use and development director, said Onalaska’s sign ordinance needed to be updated because its language was 20 years old and it had conflicting rules governing electronic signs. The proposed ordinance stipulates that a message must be displayed for at least two seconds to keep motorists from being distracted while driving.
The ordinance would also limit the size of an electronic sign based on its location. Signs facing a “federal aid primary highway” could be 100 square feet on one side, or 200 square feet total, which is the size of many billboards. Electronic signs not facing a state or federal highway could be 32 square feet on one side, which is the size of many gas station signs. In a residential neighborhood, a sign couldn’t exceed 8 square feet on one side, the size of a time and temperature display on many banks. The plan commission reserves the right to place additional size limitations in granting a conditional use permit.
“There are some people that look at these signs and say ‘If every business has an electronic sign with a flashing message, it will really change the look of the community,’” Gilman said. “And we don’t want it to look like, at an extreme, Las Vegas.”
Presently, the most “Las Vegas”-like view in the Coulee Region is on Highway 16 in West Salem where two car dealerships, two financial institutions and one convenience store have installed moving electronic signs within the past year.
Dave Prendergast, general manager of the Brenengen Kia car dealership with a 7-month-old sign, said he changes the messages daily to reflect new automobile stock and financing offers. In accordance with West Salem’s new sign ordinance, he also flashes time and temperature displays and promotes local events. He said the electronic sign is much more effective than a traditional billboard where a message stays static for a month.
“Does it help me sell cars? The answer is yes it does,” Prendergast said about his sign.
Skip Temte, a retired Onalaska resident who sits on the plan commission, said he doesn’t object to moving electronic signs being placed along highways, but he thinks flashing lights would be distracting to the “ambiance” of a residential neighborhood. For example, he voted against permitting Kwik Trip to install an animated sign at its Sand Lake Road location, which sits across the street from a park and in a residential neighborhood. He would allow the new animated signs — which the La Crosse-based convenience store is installing at scores of locations — at every other Kwik Trip in the city.
“We needed some sort of control so that we did not end up with a hodgepodge of things that do not look good for the community,” Temte said.
In Holmen, a Kwik Trip, a bank and the American Legion appear to be the only businesses with animated color signs.
When it installed its new sign on Main Street, the American Legion post didn’t cower from negative public opinion — it sent out a press release. Kathleen Goodenough, club manager for the Holmen American Legion, said people have told her the new sign looks “beautiful.” She uses the sign to announce lunch specials and said business picked up once the sign began announcing that the club was open to the public. She also said people are “tickled” to see their names in lights for weddings or birthdays.
“It’s much easier going on the computer than it is climbing up and down a ladder,” Goodenough said about her 4-month-old sign. “Plus it looks nicer, and it’s an asset to Main Street.”
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.