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Politics & Government

Concerns Arise Over Digital Sign Restrictions

School and business leaders expressed their concerns about potential restrictions on digital signs to members of the Kirkwood City Council.

When David Salivar decided to donate digital signs to the , he never imagined it would become the subject of a new ordinance. Salivar, a personal injury attorney and graduate of , donated more than $150,000 to construct new digital display signs at four locations within the district.

But residents who live near KHS have begun to complain about the school's digital signs. Complaints of brightness problems, as well as distracted drivers, have slowed the construction of new signs.

Kirkwood School District Superintendent Tom Williams and Kirkwood School Board president Scott Stream both attended the work session with Salivar last Thursday to discuss the new signs with council members.

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"It's unfortunate that the school district has to be the guinea pig for this new ordinance," council member Iggy Yuan said. "But it has to be done eventually, and it happened to come up while you guys were upgrading signs, which is unfortunate."

Signs and Schools

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Stream and Williams stated some concerns with the current draft of the ordinance, which has yet to be sent to council for an official vote. One concern was about the length of messages displayed on the signs, which will be capped between 15 and 30 seconds in the current language of the bill.

"There doesn't seem to be any data saying that shorter messages of 7 or 10 seconds are dangerous to the driver," Stream said. "We want to get as much information to commuters as possible, weather cancellations and things of that nature. But at 15 or 30 seconds, that limits us to one message per pass by a driver, which seems very restrictive."

Williams and Stream also voiced concerns over color restrictions. Current displays will be restricted to two colors. School district signs are more "high-end," Salivar said, and are capable of colorful messages.

"I just wish that we had known about these restrictions before we spent the extra cash getting signs with these capabilities, which we can't use as the ordinance reads currently," Salivar said.

Salivar told Kirkwood Patch that he had already spent about $70,000 on signage for the school, and wants to see the signs fully utilized.

Signs and Businesses

During the regular city council meeting, representatives from the Kirkwood-Des Peres Area Chamber of Commerce addressed the council about concerns that regulations would keep businesses from advertising, costing them money.

Jim Wright, president and CEO of the chamber, cited a study showing that digital display signs can increase revenue for a small business from 15 to 150 percent, and regulations would only choke revenue from local business.

"That's money out of the city's pockets," Wright said. "Kirkwood small businesses contribute about $8.5 million to the city budget with taxes. Better business means we are giving even more in sales taxes, you stand to benefit." 

Council member Gina Jaksetic said the council's primary concern was public safety.

"We have an epidemic of distracted drivers in this country, and signs flashing bright colors and messages are just one more distraction," Jaksetic said. "Just because there isn't data saying it is dangerous, that doesn't mean there is data saying isn't dangerous."

Other complaints from chamber members dealt with the brightness requirements. Under the current language, brightness will have to be certified as compliant with city regulations at the owner's expense. Todd Rehg, director of Kirkwood's Department of Public Works, told Kirkwood Patch that appropriate equipment to measure brightness runs about $1,000 per use.

If complaints are made that a previously certified sign is outside regulations, the owner will have to prove compliance again at his own expense.

David Colin of the chamber called the provision "detrimental to all businesses. Government is over-regulating our small businesses ability to thrive."

The Kirkwood City Council is still revising the ordinance after input from the school board and the chamber of commerce. The ordinance has not yet been submitted to council for a first reading.

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