Virtual Community Meetings Next Week

Proposed changes to Reno’s sign code will be presented at virtual meetings next week to get feedback from the public. The latest draft eliminates the once contemplated unlimited signage for non-casino businesses downtown, but it includes lifting a restriction on digital signs for Washoe County Schools.

The city is hosting three sessions. If you can’t attend, please email Lauren Knox at knoxL@reno.gov with your comments. To attend virtually you can register for any of the following meetings, which include the same staff presentation:

Sign Stakeholder Meeting #1

• Date: February 10th from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
• Register here: https://links.reno.gov/SignText1
• Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/s/86743300308

Sign Stakeholder Meeting #2

• Date: February 10th from 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
• Register here: https://links.reno.gov/SignText2
• Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/s/84221782651

Sign Stakeholder Meeting #3

• Date: February 13th from Noon – 1 p.m.
• Register here: https://links.reno.gov/SignText3
• Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/s/84302703367

Following the stakeholder meetings, the final draft including the digital signs for schools and eliminating unlimited signs for non-casino businesses downtown have to be approved by the Reno Planning Commission and City Council, possibly sometime in the Spring.

Possible Digital Sign Regulations for Schools Only

According to the current draft, all public and private schools will be allowed digital signs under certain conditions. Click here to read a summary of the changes prepared by staff. Currently, digital business signs are allowed in some commercial areas, but they aren’t allowed in residential neighborhoods, where most schools are located. See the draft, red-lined changes. Some of the proposed school digital signs regulations include:

• Must be turned off by 10 p.m. and turned on no earlier than 6 a.m.
• Signs shall not exceed 150 nits (a brightness measurement) between sunset and sunrise.
• Animated portion of the sign is limited to 32 sq. ft. maximum.
• Content display must remain for no less than 8 seconds with no video display, flashing, or blinking.

In the red-lined draft, the staff explains, “The Washoe County School District has requested the ability to utilize animated signage, as it is becoming a more typical sign type to alert the community of school and other community related events…”

Initially, Scenic Nevada supported the school district’s request for digital signs, presented at a council meeting in December, if they were to emulate a static sign, meaning no animation, reduced brightness and very few message changes per day. The council asked staff to prepare the regulations. After the council meeting, the school district reached out to Scenic Nevada, but we couldn’t agree on the regulations during telephone conversations with a district representative.

Scenic Nevada would prefer more restrictive regulations. At the stakeholder meetings next week, we will suggest the signs remain on between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. If there is a nighttime school event, signs should be turned off 30 minutes after the event ends. We would support message changes every hour instead of every eight seconds.

The brightness level for most digital signs, including the mega digital casino signs are allowed up to 1,500 nits, equivalent to car headlights set on bright and far too bright for a residential neighborhood.  We proposed 150 nits and apparently the school district and city staff agree. We also think the sign should be monument style and limited to six feet tall. For now, the proposed height regulations would be subject to the zoning district where the school is located. Residential zones limit signs to six feet, monument style. But other districts are eight feet and can be pole signs.

The school district’s digital signs would not require a public hearing, unlike some other digital signs. According to the sign code now, those to be located within 750 of a residentially zoned property require a public hearing.

At next week’s meetings, we’re also hoping to hear more details, such as will the signs be flipping messages during school breaks, weekends, holidays and other times when the schools are closed and there is no activity for children, parents or the community and, therefore, no one present to read the signs’ changing messages. We’d also like to hear the staff’s and school district’s justification for flipping messages every eight seconds and nighttime hours of operation, long after school normally closes for the day.

Unlimited Signs for Downtown Removed

We opposed unlimited signage for non-casino businesses in the downtown entertainment district. It was removed from the current draft, following our recent letter-writing campaign, negative feedback at community stakeholder meetings, and presentations to the Reno Planning Commission and City Council. The city received about 115 letters in opposition.

If you can’t attend a virtual meeting, please email your comments to Lauren Knox at knoxL@reno.gov. The city wants our feedback. In an email to stakeholders last week, Ms. Knox said, “Feedback received from the public engagement process help to shape the draft ordinance that will be brought to the Planning Commission and the City Council in the Spring 2025 timeframe.”

It certainly has shaped the draft so far and we hope to convince staff and the school district to prepare digital sign regulations that will allow the schools to use the new sign technology while not causing a visual nuisance for residential neighborhoods.