Cobb nixes electronic signs in neighborhoods

By MARY LOU PICKEL

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

No more electronic signs with screens and flashing messages will appear in Cobb County neighborhoods.

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Mary Lou Pickel, mpickel@ajc.com, mpickel@ajc.com An electronic sign in front of private child care facility on Barrett Parkway in Cobb County could be affected by new ordinance.

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Mary Lou Pickel, mpickel@ajc.com An electronic sign in front of the Highland Commercial Bank on Barrett Parkway near the intersection of Dallas Highway.

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The county commission voted Tuesday against allowing new LCD-style signs in residential areas.

Residents applauded the decision.

“It will take away the Las Vegas effect,” said Keli Gambrill, president of People Looking After Neighborhoods, made up of west Cobb homeowners. She spoke against changes to the county code that would have allowed such signs on residentially zoned land.

The county had considered changing its code to allow electronic LCD-style signs under special circumstances in residential areas for churches, private schools, bed and breakfasts, cemeteries, mausoleums, clubs and lodges.

A church in east Cobb had asked the county earlier this year for permission to install an electronic sign on residentially zoned land.

“I think it’s better to just draw the line and say ‘This is residential, and this is commercial,’ ” said Toria Morgan, a west Cobb resident. “If you allow churches to do it then others come in and they want it too. Before you know it there’s no peace and quiet in the residential areas.”

The commission changed the county ordinance so that new electronic LCD-style signs must not flash or contain animation. A sign’s message must not change more frequently than every 20 seconds. Those provisions do not apply to existing signs, said Rob Hosack, director of the county’s community development department.

The commission also voted to allow electronic billboards in Cobb County. Cobb doesn’t have such billboards along I-75 and other highways in unincorporated sections, but that will likely change. The new code says billboard owners can agree to take down three older billboards in exchange for erecting one new LCD-style billboard.

The messages on the LCD-style billboards cannot change more frequently than every 10 seconds and the billboards cannot be located closer than every 5,000 feet on the same side of the road, according to the new code. Billboards that face in the same direction have to be 1,000 feet apart, regardless of which side of the road they are on.