La Crosse, WI (WXOW) - The Sign Ordinance Review Committee made changes to a final draft for the proposed sign ordinance in La Crosse, including total sign height and brightness.
Before Monday night, the proposed ordinance stated no sign shall be higher than fourteen feet, but the committee decided to make a change to twenty feet.
Businesses were concerned with the total amount of NITS, or brightness, produced by a sign. A NIT is a unit used to measure luminance.
Under the current proposal, all electronic signs must operate at less than one-hundred NITS. According to business owners, sign manufacturer's lowest settings are 500 NITS.
More research will be conducted by City Planning Director Larry Kirch before a change will be made.
The committee voted to extend the current moratorium on all electronic signs from September 17th until November 1st because the publication of the ordinance is scheduled for September 30th.
"Electronic signage will fit in with our community. The businesses will be properly signed. Ads will be displayed on billboards, and yet people can still look at their bluffs and the river and say, this is a great place to live," said the Chair of the Sign Ordinance Review Committee, Bob Seaquist.
The revised sign ordinance will be presented to the common council on Thursday, August 9th, but the council will not discuss it until September 2012.
A final publication is scheduled for September 30, 2012.
