Zoning staff to look at going digital in Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Converting billboards in Lafayette to digital screens _ and slowly reducing the number of billboards overall _ will be considered by zoning staff in coming weeks.
At the May 21 Zoning Commission meeting, zoning staff recommended changing Lafayette's zoning ordinance to add specific regulations for digital billboard conversions.
Billboard owners questioned vagueness in some parts of the proposal. The Zoning Commission told the staff to spend up to eight weeks getting input from owners and residents, and tighten the proposal overall.
Since 2003, no new billboards have been allowed to go up in Lafayette. Refacing is allowed, and since then, five boards have been converted from traditional paste-up to digital display screens.
"We are literally breaking ground here," said Eleanor Bouy, director of Planning, Zoning and Codes. "No one else (around the country) has solid laws in place for this really."
But questions arose for the zoning staff about whether bright lights and rotating images posed a hazard for drivers and residents nearby. They also questioned whether the overhaul of a billboard to digital display should be considered "conventional refacing."
The recommendations they gave the commission would require owners to remove two regular billboards they own on that road for every one billboard converted, and digital boards couldn't be within 300 feet of homes or within 1,500 feet of another board like it.
"We're not trying to make it a huge issue, but do believe some specific regulations are warranted," said Denise Womack, zoning manager. "This is new technology and something every community in the country is dealing with simultaneously."
Donna Robinson, a resident of Bendel Gardens subdivision, told commission members the sign outside her home flashes images through her bedroom windows regularly.
Board owners like Lamar told the commission they want the change so they can take advantage of new technology. Digital boards are cheaper to operate and safer in areas where storms could blow paste-up panels off the billboard, said Wayne Pixon, owner of one local billboard.
Lane Parker, vice president of Lamar, said there's a lot of clarification needed to some of the zoning staff stipulations, particularly removal of two boards for every one digital refacing.
If an owner converted one sign on Johnston Street to digital, the recommendation wasn't clear on where other signs would be removed from if no more were on the same street, Parker said.
Commissioner John Barras also wanted staff to consider setting standards for the speed advertisements would rotate on a sign, citing concern that rapid movements would distract drivers.
The majority of southern cities the zoning staff studied permit digital billboards, and some regulate brightness and speed to limit their impact.