Mayfield Heights Not Ready to Approve First Electronic Sign

officials want the first electronic sign in as part of the renovations at .

After a variance to allow LED graphics on the school's sign was denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals, school officials addressed concerns about brightness and frequency of messages in hopes that City Council would give its approval.

However, council members decided to send the matter back to the BZA for review of the proposed changes.

"With the changes that have taken place, I would like to see the BZA rule on this," Council President Michael Ballistrea said.

Councilman Anthony DiCicco, council's representative on the BZA, said that members were concerned about brightness and content of the sign. Superintendent Phillip Price said the district would restrict messages to three per minute that would fade in and out.

"There wouldn't be any graphics, any hopping bunnies or anything like that," Price said.

But the BZA also had a concern about approving the city's first electronic sign and the precedent that would set. DiCicco said members didn't know if such signs are permitted by city codes.

Mayor Gregory Costabile said a section of the code allows for signs to have changeable copy for government, education, places of worship and gas stations. He said flashing and moving images are prohibited.

Ballistrea suggested that BZA members evaluated the latest proposal for the sign with the code references cited by the mayor in mind. He said if there's a question of whether codes need to be reevaluated, the matter can be referred to a council committee.

Price said a delay in getting approval for the sign would not pose a problem.

"We understood that it would probably go back (to the BZA)," he said.