Palmer Approves Electronic Sign Ordinance

At its last meeting of 2011, the passed the township’s revised electronic billboard ordinance it had been contemplating since last summer.

Zoning codes did not cover the newer digital billboards placed along Routes 22 and 33.

“To be consistent with the times,” Township Solicitor Charles Bruno said, “we should consider changes and restrict where they can be put."

So, supervisors sent the issue to the where, after a couple of hearings, the zoning ordinance was amended to include digital signs. That amendment was sent back to supervisors in November.

That first draft, however, was rejected because it required digital billboards to be switched off from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The concern was the light might shine into residential neighborhoods.

Margaret Kyle, an account executive with Lamar Advertising – an outdoor advertising company – objected to that part of the ordinance.

She said her company doesn’t even consider where it could bother neighborhoods. And it wouldn’t sell advertising in municipalities with a lights-out ordinance either.

“I don’t want a light from my billboard coming into a person’s bedroom,” Kyle said. “It’s PR, and costs us money.”

The ordinance was sent back for revision, and the final version, without the lights-out part, was . Kyle even interrupted her holiday vacation plans to be present when the board voted.

The revised ordinance is attached.