The Washoe County commission will consider an overhaul of its lengthy and some say outdated sign ordinance Tuesday. County staff say the new code is designed to be more streamlined and less confusing, though not everyone is pleased with the changes. Reno Public Radio's Julia Ritchey reports.
At 33 pages, the county's regulatory code for signs and billboards is no light reading.
Trevor Lloyd is a senior planner with Washoe County. He says the new draft ordinance they've come up with, at a breezy 22 pages, is a much needed revamping.
"Our existing code was adopted about 20 years ago, and so it's outdated,” says Lloyd. “We need to, certainly, to bring it up with the times."
Among the biggest changes to the sign code will be a new policy of content neutrality. In other words, the actual message on a sign won’t be as tightly regulated.
Lloyd says the change was necessary in light of recent court rulings in the country that have protected the first amendment rights of sign and billboard owners.
"We feel that what we're doing is regulating signage based on time, place and manner,” he says. “The use of the sign as opposed to the message of the sign."
The second biggest change will be a rewriting of the distinction between a sign and a billboard.
Under the new ordinance, anything smaller than 450 square feet is a sign and anything larger a billboard. A typical billboard is about 672 square feet, according to Lloyd.
Not everyone is pleased, however, with the rewrite. Some critics say the change could open the floodgates to more billboards, even if they’re smaller and now considered signs.
"One of the things we're fighting is the process that got us to where we are today..."
That's John Hara, president of local nonprofit group Scenic Nevada, which seeks to protect corridors from visual clutter like billboards and cell phone towers.
He’s circulated a petition with 360 signatures protesting the new ordinance, which he says caters too much to the sign industry.
Lloyd, with the county, disagrees.
“Once we explain the changes, there’s a lot of buy-in, both from the community and sign industry,” he says.
Scenic Nevada also takes issue with the draft code’s regulations for brightness of electronic billboards and the flip time for their ads.
"A concept that should be followed very simply is that digital signs should follow what the accepted community standard has been forever, which is known as emulation,” says Hara. “In other words, they should be indistinguishable from static signs."
Under the existing code, there are no guidelines on brightness, but this revision will create a standard. Lloyd says this is a step in the right direction. In addition, fewer will be allowed. Flashing and animated video signs will be completely prohibited as well.
"We're really tightening the standards for where they can be located, how bright they can be, how tall they can be and even how large they can be," says Lloyd.
The ordinance will have its first of two readings Tuesday and is expected to pass later this fall.
