Kitsap County Commissioners voted to allow the use of electronic signs in commercial or industrial zones inside Urban Growth Areas, and also to allow their use outside the UGA for traffic control or public safety.

Churches, schools and governments may also use electronic signs inside the UGA.

The new sign code affects many aspects of signs, but the electronic sign section has drawn the most attention.

Commissioner Charlotte Garrido voted against the part of the sign code that allows electronic signs. Garrido said the county was acting too soon since the comprehensive plan update was forthcoming. She noted the current comprehensive plan does not call for using electronic signs.

“We do need to have some kind of analysis of the cumulative impacts,” Garrido said of electronic signs. “We need to have some idea of what that does to our visual quality.”

Garrido said that since cities will likely annex the UGA at some point, that the county should coordinate their electronic sign code with the cities.

Commissioner Robert Gelder said action was needed now because businesses needed clarity on electronic signs now, rather than having to wait until some unknown point in the future.

Gelder said the updated code provided more clarity for sign owners, and allowed their use for  public safety.

Commissioner Linda Streissguth noted the community “angst” over electronic signs. If every parcel on a street had electronic signs, Streissguth wondered, what would the cumulative impact of that be?

The ordinance includes a change that calls for the county to revisit the electronic sign issue in six months.

The new sign code states a message on an electronic sign must be constant for eight seconds and may not change more than three times per minute. Brightness is regulated at 0.3 foot-candles. Billboards are not allowed by the previous ordinance nor by the new one.

During public comment, area residents Ron Gillespie and Joyce Merkel told the council they opposed electronic signs.

“Electronic signs are going to get bigger. They’re going to get faster. And any time you give anybody the opportunity to put graphics in and change a message quickly, they will do it,” Gillespie said.

“And one business will try to out-do the next business and we’re pretty soon going to have just an untenable situation,” Gillespie said.

Gillespie also said the county needed to figure out how it would handle enforcement of the sign ordinance.

Merkel said the business community had too much influence on sign ordinance, and that average citizens did not have enough input. Merkel said the signs could create a Reno-like “flashing town.”