Council Committee advances new digital billboard rules
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center. Source: City of Lexington.
In last Thursday’s special General Government and Planning Committee meeting, Councilmembers voted to advance new regulations for digital billboards in Lexington. Currently, there are no regulations around digital billboards in Lexington.
Digital billboards are electronic billboards that change images, allowing multiple advertisers to display ads on one billboard.
The proposed regulations control the size of billboards, how often images have to change, how brightly lit they are, and what zones they can be placed in.
Digital billboards, like static billboards with only one advertisement at a time, would only be allowed in the Corridor Business (B-3) Zone, the Warehouse Business (B-4) Zone, and Light Industrial (I-1) and Heavy Industrial (I-2) Zones.
Digital billboards could change images every eight seconds. The regulations would forbid animations, blinking lights, or moving images that may be distracting to drivers.
Digital billboards would be able to be no larger than 400 sq. feet.
One digital billboard must be at least 2,500 feet away from another digital billboard, and 500 feet away from a static billboard.
District 3 Councilmember Hannah LeGris and District 5 Councilmember Liz Sheehan voted against advancing the regulations, citing concerns about the billboards potentially distracting drivers, causing light pollution, and their energy consumption. All other present Committee members voted for the proposal.
These regulations are considered a Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA). The full Council will vote to send the regulations to the Planning Commission, which will review and potentially revise them, will hold a public hearing, and will send the regulations back to Council for a final vote.
You can review the full proposal starting on page three of this packet.
