ALBANY — An Albany businessman displayed his opinion of the city’s proposed sign ordinance Wednesday in the most effective way he knew — on his sign.

“This sign is fine in Valdosta,” flashed the first panel of wording on the LED message board at Pine Avenue’s Warehouse package store.

A potentially illegal few seconds later, “C(i)ty of Albany is not pro-business,” the second screen said.

Tuesday, the Albany City Commission gave tentative approval to a sign ordinance that would prohibit LED signs of a certain size from changing their messages more than once a day.

The news spurred businesses with electronic signs — ones smaller than a billboard, but larger than 8 square feet — into action.

“Who it’s going to penalize is small businesses who are trying to make a legal living, and hopefully with increased (tax) revenue for the city,” said Warehouse manager Louis Bernard, who wrote his sign’s message.

The Warehouse owners’ business in Valdosta is not encumbered by a sign-change restriction, Bernard said.

“Instead of modeling their ordinance on other cities in the state, (Albany’s) is probably the most restrictive,” he said.

Bernard said Warehouse invested around $30,000 several years ago to install the sign, which arises from a landscaped island near the road.

The city has cited safety as the rationale for restricting digital displays, though public entities such as Darton College are exempt from the restrictions.

Across Pine Avenue from Warehouse, a new Walgreen’s sports an LED display with a static message about a bargain inside.

“Somebody like Walgreen’s ... they’re telling them they can’t have a sign that changes?” Bernard said.

Allowed to change digital message every 10 seconds under the new ordinance are billboards — after a billboard company took the city to court. Signs smaller than 8 square feet also are exempt.

Bernard said he and other local businesses have a list of city officials they’ve begun to call to protest the proposed ordinance, which the commission, after several months of committee and legal wrangling, plans to adopt at a Tuesday meeting.

“There are a lot more problems in the city than a sign ordinance,” Bernard said. “They spent a lot of time on this issue that they could have spent on something else.”