It looks like it's lights out in Bonita Springs — for light emitting diode (LED) lights, anyway. After multiple debates, City Council has decided to prohibit LED-lighted signs in the city for the time being.
The issue came up during a recent overhaul of the city's sign ordinance, which involved amending the Lee County sign ordinance to tailor it to the city's needs. Fears that Bonita Springs could grow to resemble the bright lights of Las Vegas, New York City or Orlando's International Drive sparked the discussion, which was the focal point of its first reading on the June 4 council meeting as well as Wednesday's.
"The first image I found when I Googled 'LED lights' was of Times Square," Councilman John Spear said, also noting that although he knew this was an extreme case, he said it illustrated his point of how these lighted signs could clutter Bonita Springs' skies. "If there's a place for them in the community, then I think we should take a more regulated approach."
Though City Attorney Audrey Vance has spent the past two weeks researching LED lights and their potential impact on the community, she wasn't an expert on the topic, Spear said, and so the council decided to hold off on approving or creating regulations for LED signs until they knew more information about them.
In the meantime, business owners and advertisers can go through the zoning process and request a special exception to this rule, which would allow them to put up an LED sign if they make a compelling enough argument.
"Let them sell you on why an LED sign will not be a problem in that area, in that situation," Vance told City Council.
In addition to aesthetic concerns, these lighted signs could be a distraction to motorists, posing safety hazards, which is another reason why council members felt they needed to research the matter further before allowing LED signs in the city.
The council's decision doesn't involve prohibiting LED signs exclusively, however. In the council's motion, Vance was instructed to amend the ordinance to prohibit — for now — any other digital signs producing the same bright, TV screen-like appearance that may emerge within the next few years.
This addition to the motion was made after Ric Pritchett of Carter-Pritchett advertising urged them to reconsider prohibiting the signs altogether.
He compared the movement from traditional billboards to LED ones to how e-mail replaced fax machines as a more efficient means of communication. Years ago, when a person wanted to send a message quickly, they'd fax it, Pritchett said.
"Now you look at a fax and you say, why wouldn't you send an e-mail?" he said.
One of the major advantages of using these types of lights is that they allow a business to change its copy at any time, almost instantaneously, he said. In the past, it could take a week to repaint or alter a billboard.
"Leave the door open so that we can move forward in our industry as other companies move forward in their industries," he said.
After the ordinance was approved, Councilman Bill Lonkart made a motion to have the council staff conduct further research into LED signs to gain more information about their safety, aesthetics and the potential energy savings that LED lights could provide. The motion passed unanimously.
While discussing the ordinance, the council also decided to remove maximum height restrictions for street addresses so that the letters have to be a minimum of six inches tall but can be as large as business owners want.
