Katy has plenty of bright spots. City leaders just want to make sure it doesn’t start looking like the Las Vegas Strip. The Houston suburb is now taking another look at how bright, flashy or digital signs should be allowed to get across the city.
City staff and residents met during a public workshop Wednesday to discuss Katy’s current sign ordinance, a review requested by Mayor Pro Tem Gina Hicks and Councilmember Paul Follis. No official action was taken.
The workshop stemmed from American Furniture Warehouse’s request to use a digital sign, as Community Impact first reported. Hicks told the outlet she later learned churches and schools also wanted digital signs.
“I wanted to just take a look at what our sign ordinance was and if it made sense and also get transparent, public feedback on where the community stands on this sign ordinance and what changes they are for or they are against,” Hicks told Community Impact.
Katy officials are reviewing the city’s sign ordinance after a public workshop on digital signs, including rules for electronic message boards and flashy displays. (Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspap/Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag)
Katy’s current sign rules were amended in 2009 to allow LED backlit or internally lit signs, Community Impact reported. During the workshop, Community Development Director Ian Clowes described two types of electronic signs: “spectacular” signs, which include Las Vegas-style lighting with glaring or rotating strobe or spotlights, and changeable electronic variable message signs, or CEVMS, which function more like standard electronic message boards.
A Katy workshop explored how flashy digital signs should be as the Houston suburb weighs new rules and tries not to look like the Las Vegas Strip. (Robert Landau/Getty Images)
Under the current rules, CEVMS signs are prohibited in residential districts but allowed in commercial and industrial districts if they are not in the Old Katy District and are at least 500 feet from a single-family home. Spectacular signs in front of businesses on general rights-of-way are prohibited, and off-premise signs such as billboards are not allowed if they are CEVMS or spectacular signs.
Residents raised concerns about flashy signs being distracting, though others said digital signs at schools or churches could be easier to update than manual signs.
The workshop ended without a vote and it’s unclear when an update to the sign ordinance would return to discussion.
Chron has reached out to Katy City Council Members for additional comment.
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This article originally published at Houston suburb debates how bright and flashy its digital signs should get.