City studies use of digital billboards

The city will take a closer look at tightening the rules around digital billboards.

A proposal was made at city council Monday to limit how close the signs can get to roads and surrounding homes.

The proposal also seeks to limit the distraction for drivers by limiting the images on the signs to a change only once every 10 seconds.

Council, however, has referred the matter to a task force slated to report back by June.

Nicoletta MacDonald, Pattison Outdoor Advertising director of sales for Calgary and southern Alberta, said the proposed rules would significantly hurt business.

"We don't see any difference between our digital product and our static product it's just the natural evolution of the technology," said MacDonald. "We've already addressed the concerns about the lighting to make sure that they're turned towards the road."

"They actually have less light-spill than the traditional billboards, and they're not intended to point into somebody's living room. That's not the intent."

Right now, billboards have to be at least six metres from the road.

The city wants them back further, and not closer than 300 metres to anyone's home.