Street signs that scroll, change every 8 seconds approved by Jacksonville City Council

Jacksonville's City Council approved electronic sign rules Tuesday that had divided business interests and some neighborhood leaders who said roadways would become uglier and more dangerous.

The language that split the groups will allow sign messages to change every eight seconds and to feature "scrolling" announcements that crawl across a screen.

City officials once interpreted Jacksonville's sign laws as allowing changes every three minutes but later concluded that standard was unenforceable because of garbled wording.

Advocates said the new measure, Bill 2010-900, prevents rapid-fire changes but left businesses, schools and churches that owned electric signs flexibility to use them effectively.

Advocates for stronger restrictions won support from many neighborhood civic groups and all six of the city-organized Citizen Planning Advisory Committees, called CPACs. Ninety-nine out of 100 people sitting on CPACs citywide endorsed a three-minute hold on sign changes and a ban on scrolling.