By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Catawba College will finally get an electronic sign.
Salisbury City Council approved Tuesday allowing electronic signs for colleges located in the Institutional Campus zoning district.
The OK comes after lengthy discussions by the Planning Board, Community Appearance Commission and City Council committees over recent months ó and years, really ó as those bodies assessed electronic message signs in relation to the existing sign law.
Catawba College Vice President of External Relations Phil Kirk said the process took at least three years, so he wasn’t rushing the council to action Tuesday when he asked it to approve “modest changes” to the Land Development Ordinance that would allow a sign.
Catawba intends to replace a 40-year-old sign with individual, hand-positioned letters with a new electronic version that will promote activities at the Robertson College Community Center along West Innes Street.
Kirk said the college has “a patient donor” who has been willing to pay for the new sign.
According to the amendment passed by council, the electronic display on the sign must contain text that does not “shimmer, flicker, intensify or move in any direction.”
It must illuminate in white or amber letters on a black field, and any electronic text must remain in a fixed display for at least 5 minutes.
Only one electronic ground sign will be allowed per college or university.
Livingstone College officials also had asked for a change that would allow Livingstone to have an electronic sign. Council’s action Tuesday would include Livingstone, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Hood Theological Seminary should they want electronic signs.
One of the sticking points in the city discussions about an electronic sign were safety concerns that they could be a distraction to drivers.
The Hefner VA Medical Center has an electronic sign with moving text, but the city sign ordinance carries no authority on the federal grounds.
Councilman Bill Burgin said he was encouraged that members of the Planning Board and Community Appearance Commission were protective of the city’s sign regulations. But in this case, Catawba College seemed to be making a reasonable request and not creating any kind of driving hazard.
Councilman Mark Lewis agreed that the sign request passed “the reasonableness test.”
The Planning Board and Community Appearance Commission may have been concerned that approval would lead the sign ordinance down a slippery slope, but that isn’t the case with this narrowly worded amendment, Lewis suggested.
Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy noted the electronic signs would only be allowed on a college campus and that “proper restrictions” were included.