Fade to Black?

Municipal crackdowns on sign codes seem to occur without any rhyme or reason. Sometimes, liberal-leaning locales, where one might expect more stringent government oversight, loosen sign codes in an effort to help their business communities. In contrast, ostensibly conservative communities take the opposite tack and enact restrictive ordinances that hamper the local economy.

The latter scenario is in danger of taking place in Oklahoma, quite possibly the reddest U.S. state this side of Wyoming or Utah. The city council of Edmond, a rapidly growing Oklahoma City suburb, voted in January to loosen its electronic-message-center restriction, and allow them in commercially zoned districts. No one will confuse such displays in Edmond for Las Vegas spectaculars; the variance requires a 30-second dwell time, and only text-based messages are permitted.

However, three former Edmond mayors have decided that even such modest inclusion of dynamic-digital signage (DS) is unacceptable. Randel Shadid, Dan O’Neil and Saundra Naifeh have launched a petition to get a measure on Edmond’s April 2015 municipal ballot to permanently ban DS and eliminate the possibility of any future variances. The ex-mayors filed the petition on February 14, and have 90 days to compile 634 signatures – a pretty meager total for a city with approximately 81,000 residents.

According to a February 24 Edmond Sun article, the issue of electronic signage has become rather contentious for the city. The council was slated to discuss the petition at its Edmond Neighborhood Summit. Nick Massey, one of the councilmen who voted for the commercial-district variance, told the Sun, “Whenever you talk about signs in Edmond, it becomes a real touchy subject. I guess that’s part of our history. When you make your decision (about the petition) … understand what the new ordinance actually says – what it allows, and what it doesn’t allow.”

I’ll delve into this further in our May issue’s Editorially Speaking column, with comments from local officials and those who work in the DS market. In the meantime, let’s hope that those in the Sooner State’s sign industry will join forces to promote its interests in Edmond – and, by extension, its local economy.

More soon…
 

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