Amendment allows electronic signs

0
62

NAUGATUCK — The Zoning Commission last week unanimously approved amending the zoning regulations to allow for electronic message center signs.

The new regulation goes into effect on Dec. 19.

According to the regulation, an electronic message center sign is an electronically activated, changeable sign whose graphic can be changed from a remote location.

Under the regulation, such signs are only allowed to contain static images and messages. Messages and images that either move or give the illusion of movement are prohibited.

Each static message on the sign has to be displayed for a minimum of 8 seconds. The change from one image to the next has to be completed in a maximum of 1 second.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Ed Carter pointed to electronic billboards such as the ones along Route 8 and Interstate 84 as examples of what the commission is looking for in the regulation.

The electronic signs are not allowed in residential districts except by certain institutions such as churches, libraries and schools.

Electronic signs with messages that rotate, flash or blink are still prohibited under the zoning regulations.