AUGUSTA — A new sign ordinance approved by city councilors this week makes lots of changes, but it doesn’t alter the number of times an electronic sign’s message can change.

The Planning Board had recommended such signs be limited to changing messages no more than once every 30 seconds.

City councilors, however, whacked that time restriction back down to four seconds in the final version of the new sign ordinance they approved Thursday. Four seconds was the limit in the previous sign rules, too.

Deputy Director of Development Services Matt Nazar said the reasoning behind increasing the time restriction was out of concern that flashing electronic messages changing too frequently could be a distraction to drivers.

“The thought is, if you’re pulling people’s eyes away from the road, it’s a distraction,” Nazar said.

Nazar noted the standard for federal highways restricts electronic signs from changing every eight seconds.

But city councilors said they had not heard or seen evidence that messages changing on electronic signs were causing car accidents.

So they left the four-second time restriction alone.

“What we’re engaged in is a solution to a lack of a problem,” Councilor David Rollins said. “There aren’t cars crashing everywhere, this just came up as part of looking at the sign ordinance, in general. We’re in an era where we’re supposed to be more business-friendly. Let’s not regulate something that is not a problem.”

Councilors approved the new sign rules in a 7-0 vote. There are eight members of the council, plus the mayor. Councilor Cecil Munson was not at the meeting.

The ordinance also includes new requirements that signs no longer being used by an active business to be taken down, including their posts and other structures.

It also includes new standards for sign sizes and lighting, and it requires existing signs that don’t conform to the new standards to comply or be removed within 10 years. The Planning Board held multiple public hearings on the proposed sign changes, with business and industry representatives and residents testifying.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com