LED flashing signs attracts criticism

Vice Mayor Terry Turner is concerned that the city of Sarasota is heading down a slippery slope when it comes to approving modern lighted signs within city limits, especially when they sit close to residential neighborhoods.

Turner, who was the lone dissenter for a new Crime Stoppers flashing LED sign near the courthouse that will flash pictures of wanted fugitives every two minutes, points to another sign issue that arose recently in the Hudson Bayou neighborhood.

Donna Simmons, a board certified audiologist and the owner of Physicians Hearing at 1700 S. Osprey Ave., was flabbergasted when she started receiving angry calls from Hudson Bayou homeowners within hours of her new city-approved LED sign being erected at the corner of Osprey Avenue and Hawthorne Street.

Simmons, a Sarasota native, said she started receiving nasty voicemail messages and emails from residents who demanded she shut off or dim her sign.

“I never expected people would be so upset about the sign,” Simmons said. “I’m just trying to grow my business.”

Simmons, though, told the Sarasota Observer, there was a glitch with the sign on its first night, and the sign wasn’t dimmed properly, prompting some irate messages from homeowners who could see the light from their front yards.

“We were still fine-tuning the sign and it was fixed the next day,” Simmons said.

Rob Patten, president of the Hudson Bayou Homeowners Association, said, when it first was installed, homeowners couldn’t believe city staff would permit such a sign.

After the sign was fixed, Patten said homeowners realized the lighted sign met city code. The sign sits on an office district parcel a few hundred feet away from a residential neighborhood.

“An LED sign is not your usual sign,” Patten said “It’s like putting a 200-inch LCD television on top of a pole. It’s very bright and the images can change often.”

Patten, however, is quick to point out Simmons was willing to work with the neighborhood immediately.

Simmons has agreed to dim her sign to 6% wattage in the evening, even though city code allows her to have the sign shine as brightly as 40% in the evening. She’s also agreed to turn the sign off every night at 9 p.m. and not turn it back on until 7 a.m., even though she’s allowed to run it 24 hours a day.

“I want to be a good neighbor,” Simmons said.

Patten, Turner and Simmons, however, think there’s an underlying issue that needs to be vetted with city staff.

“I think the city needs to take a look at its zoning laws so signs get scrutinized a bit more when they are being placed so close to a residential neighborhood,” Patten said. “This is a sign that motorists are used to on U.S. 41, but not on Osprey Avenue.”

Simmons also believes that after the backlash she received, a new procedure needs to be put in place moving forward.

“Maybe the residents who live close to the sign should have received notice that I received city approval for my sign,” Simmons said. “The city could have helped soften the blow and made people aware through a community workshop or something.”

Turner, meanwhile, wants a complete re-evaluation of LED signs and the city’s sign code.

“I’m not sure a bright, flashing, Las Vegas-style sign is what people really want on Osprey Avenue,” Turner said.

Turner warned commissioners at a meeting last month that he wouldn’t support the Crime Stoppers sign because “it sets a precedent.”

“We need to have a city staff discussion and a review of the sign ordinance in general,” Turner said. “We really need to think about what kind of signs are most compatible for businesses that sit so close to a residential neighborhood.”