'Residential message boards' may be coming to Bossier City neighborhoods
Plus: Greenacres Blvd to get a new 4-way stop sign.
Bossier City weather — A Flood Watch remains in effect through this afternoon. Rain and thunderstorms will increase across the area early this morning leading to an additional 1 to 2 inches of rainfall. Today: Cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Showers, mainly this morning. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall. Highs in the mid-50s. East winds around 5 mph, becoming west this afternoon. Chance of rain 90%. Tonight: Mostly cloudy in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Colder with lows in the lower 30s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Thursday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 40s. North winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
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'Residential message boards' may be coming to Bossier City neighborhoods
Would a digital message sign enhance the entrance to your neighborhood?
At Monday's meeting, the Bossier Metropolitan Planning Commission discussed a review of regulations to allow residential digital message boards.
"So, we received a unique request," Carlotta Askew-Brown, executive director of the MPC, said. "It's something that we haven't typically done — the erection of a digital board within a residential area. And in addition to that, we thought it was a good time to go ahead and review and amend the rest of our signage regulations in hopes to increase engagement and have flexibility with real-time updates."
Askew-Brown said it was time for the commission "to amend our regulations to include technological advances."
MPC board member Art Schuldt was enthusiastic.
"I'm just going to say, you know, what started off for my interest was the digital sign in a subdivision, and the way you've expanded it, I like everything that you've done with all the additions to other components of our sign regulations," Schuldt said. "I didn't realize how much we were missing until you presented it, so thank you for that."
The proposed MPC regulation says, "A Residential Message Board integrated with a well-designed monument sign can complement a neighborhood while providing targeted information quickly to residents. Monument signs draw attention and make an immediate impression of stability and neighborhood identity by harmonizing with the surrounding environment and architecture. Typical messages displayed on a Residential Message Board may include meeting schedules, HOA dues, school or other special events."
Monument signs are often seen outside of upscale neighborhoods. However, the residential message boards the MPC is considering would have a digital display of up to a maximum of 32 square feet, with an allowed height limit for the message area of six feet.
Askew-Brown said that because digital signs are so popular and Bossier City doesn't have a "night sky" ordinance, regulations would be added requiring the digital signs be dimmed at night "so as to not cause a nuisance while people are driving."
Proposed MPC regulations are submitted to the Bossier City Council and Bossier Parish Police Jury for approval.
Greenacres Blvd to get a new 4-way stop sign
Even though Bossier City's engineer wasn't in favor of it, the city council approved placing a 4-way stop sign at the intersection of Greenacres Boulevard and Fairmont Drive in the Greenacres Place subdivision.
The additional stop sign, sponsored by District 5 councilmember Vince Maggio, is an effort to "control speeding and other unsafe driving," according to the ordinance.
At-large councilmember Chris Smith worried that adding a third four-way stop on the Boulevard might lead to adding a fourth at Southwood Drive, ultimately leading to traffic backups.
"I know I've voted for other stop signs that the traffic engineer says it's warranted, but Fairmont and Airline are so close to each other, I worry about congestion during peak travel time," Smith said.
“If it was warranted, there would already be a sign there.”
City engineer Ben Rauschenbach said the 4-way stop "will, no question, make that intersection safer over the long term."
However, he said it might also introduce traffic delays.
"When we're looking at traffic engineering, we are biased towards the highest volume of traffic. So we're wanting to keep, you know, in the case of the Boulevard, we want to keep flow moving east-west, but we are creating a condition for people going north-south that want to get there,” Rauschenbach said. “It's the same thing when you're on the Boulevard and you want to make a left turn to go north, why isn't there a turn arrow there? We get that question asked a lot. And the reason is it introduces delay. And the last thing you want to do is create more delay north-south. So we're biased towards that leading high volume traffic. If it was warranted, there would already be a sign there."
All seven council members approved the ordinance.
City of Bossier City rejects hosting EV charging stations
The City of Bossier City was awarded a grant by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to install two EV charging stations on city-owned property. However, the city council rejected the installation of two EV charging stations at the Boardwalk Parking Garage at its meeting Tuesday.
District 1's Brian Hammons was worried about liability issues.
"Car catches on fire, something like that, or the charging station messes up a car. Who's liable for that? I saw a while back, I think it was in Bossier on 220, the fire department trying to put an electric vehicle car fire out. And I think it would have taken all the water in the Red River to put it out," Hammons said. "Once the Boardwalk does start having more and more people down there, one of those cars catches on fire in that parking garage and we burn down a parking garage and all the cars in it. I don't think we carry enough insurance for all of that."
At-large councilmember David Montgomery agreed.
"Quite frankly, I'm not gonna support this. I believe the liabilities outweigh the benefits," Montgomery said.
The matter was rejected, with only at-large councilmember Chris Smith voting for the EV charging stations.
In other business, the council:
Honored a number of people in recognition of Black History Month: Bobby R. Collins, chief executive officer of the Housing Authority of the City of Bossier City; Lieutenant Colonel Cordell L. Williams, deputy superintendent of support for the Louisiana State Police; Makesha Harris-Evans, Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office assistant chief; Lewis Johnson, City of Bossier City public information officer; and Disha K. Darby, Caddo Parish Sheriff's assistant chief deputy of detention.
Approved the sale of high and low-content alcohol for on-premise consumption at a restaurant, Looosiana Bistreaux, located at 2090 Brookshire Arena Drive, Suite 200.
Approved the sale of high and low-content alcohol for on-premise consumption at a billiards arena, Red River Billiards, located at 2090 Brookshire Arena Drive, Suite 100.
Approved a zoning change at 2910 Shed Road for a boba tea and coffee shop, Bubble and Beans Café.
Adopted a resolution congratulating President Donald J. Trump on his election.
Approved the appointment of Lee Daville to the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Commission effective immediately to serve an unexpired term that ends on December 31, 2026.
Approved the appointment of Brian Crawford to the Caddo-Bossier Port Commission for a six-year term effective February 17, 2025, that will expire on February 16, 2031.
Councilmember Hammons requested that, in the future, all appointments to area commissions be made public before a vote so that all interested candidates could be considered.
Rescheduled: Clyde Fant Parkway closure at the JDB
The closure of Clyde Fant Parkway in Shreveport at the Jimmie Davis Bridge interchange has been RESCHEDULED for Friday, February 14, 2025. The crane will be moved back across the roadway as part of the ongoing Jimmie Davis Bridge (LA 511) replacement project.
This closure will occur at approximately 9:00 am and is expected to last no longer than about 15 minutes. Traffic impacts are expected to be minimal.
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