The City Council approved on Tuesday its own restrictions on LED billboards to enhance those of the Texas Department of Transportation.
The reason the amendments were before the City Council was because the Texas Transportation Commission adopted a rule that will take effect June 1, said Ray Shanaa, Harker Heights planning and development director.
"We believe we need to have something in place before June 1," Shanaa said.
The rule states that an applicant wanting to construct an electronic LED billboard must receive a permit from TxDOT, must comply with TxDOT billboard rules and must receive written consent from the city, Shanaa said.
By amending the city's sign ordinance, the council created a standard on which to allow companies to receive permits for the signs.
The amendments define a changeable electronic variable message sign as a sign that permits light to be turned off periodically in a way that includes LED billboards.
The ordinance now makes it clear that LED billboards can only be placed on U.S. Highway 190 and Veterans Memorial Boulevard.
It also described the maximum intensity of the billboards and other LED-lighted signs during daytime and nighttime hours, and requires that a built-in dimmer function take care of changes during the time periods.
Every LED billboard will not have more then a 10-second change between multiple messages, should not be less than 1,500 feet apart, and not have a surface message area of more than 672 feet, the ordinance states.
The sign should be protected by a default mechanism that will freeze the display if a malfunction occurs, the amendments state. It should also not look like a warning sign.
The amendments to the ordinance state that the signs may not only be used for Amber Alerts, as TxDOT requires, but may also include information regarding other emergency situations.
"Something that we work with on locally is crime stoppers, which is not regulated by TxDOT," said Tracy Smith with Lamar Advertising, explaining that LED billboards can be used for public safety.
