In Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., the city commission voted 5-0 last week to put an immediate moratorium on LED signs on the premises of business properties.

The sign moratorium was sought by the Hawthorne Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood group has been against plans by Steven Stremick of Select Financial to put a cube-shaped light-emitting-diode sign at the corner of 13th Avenue South and University Drive.

Residents say they’re worried the sign, which can include rapidly changing images, would be a traffic and pedestrian safety hazard, and because of its brightness and size, detract from the residential nature of the neighborhood.

Stremick, who has sought approval for the sign for months, was visibly upset, saying neither the neighborhood group nor the city have given him good information or treated him fairly.

“I didn’t realize this was going to be a personal attack on me,” Stremick said, adding that people have gotten the facts wrong on the sign. “I did everything right.”

Commissioner Brad Wimmer said the 15 neighborhood residents at the meeting “obviously don’t feel it’s appropriate.”

Wimmer said “the enormity” of the sign, classified as monument-sized, is too much for “a property of this size. … I think the neighbors are correct.”