PITTSFIELD, Mass. — City officials believe it's time to update regulations on illuminated signage in response to advancements in technology.

Permitting coordinator Amber Spring told the Zoning Board of Appeals last week that the Ordinance Review Committee would like its input on the city's sign ordinance. The request is part of the review of the charter that the committee started last year. 

"Specifically, there was a clarification to animated and illuminated signs. As we get more digital signs around town, there have been a lot of questions about refresh rate with the text and the images and there's also a question of whether they should be the same allowed refresh rate or if there's any difference between a message changing or image changing," she said.

"The transition between the old text and the new text or the old image and the new image is still not allowed to have any sort of animation or fading or anything other than just appearing or else it would be considered animated but there's still a question of can it refresh once per minute, once per five minutes, once per hour."

The city code's current definition for illuminated signs is "A sign that has characters, letters, figures, designs, or outlines illuminated by electric lights or luminous tubes" but there is no definition for a digital sign.

The state's standard refresh rate for signs and billboards is 10 seconds, which Spring said seems quick. A refresh rate more along the lines of five minutes is seen as reasonable.

Pittsfield does not allow digital billboards and these guidelines would apply to business signs or signs in front of cultural venues.  

The city building inspector and Community Development staff members have been asked for input to clarify parts of the ordinance that have caused confusion.

"I was part of the original sign committee before there was a committee, the one that developed the signs, whenever a year that was but there was a purpose. We had a goal. We wanted to eliminate clutter in the general sense. There were specific goals and time," Chair Albert Ingegni III said, adding that he is not sure what they are trying to fix.

Board member Thomas Goggins pointed out that when the original ordinance was put in place, animated digital signs did not exist.

"This is kind of at least addressing it. Whether it's the right fit, I don't know," he said.

"You talked about a quick refresh rate so if you're going by in traffic as opposed to just staying there across the street looking at it but I think at least we're addressing it. At least the city is addressing it for technology that is here to stay."

Spring said more clarity would make it easier to follow. Recently, the Berkshire Museum inquired about new LCD (liquid crystal display) signs that it is trying to obtain through a grant and the rule of thumb has been that images can change maybe once every 24 hours, which she observed may not be good for advertisement.

The board will review proposed ordinance changes over the next month and discuss them again at the next meeting.

In other news, the board granted a special permit and variance to allow the construction of a 6-foot fence at 176 Windsor Ave. and a six-month extension for a variance at 84 Shore Drive.
 

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