The city of Reno is contemplating allowing all businesses in the downtown entertainment district to have almost unlimited signage – including giant digital signs – normally allowed only for casinos. Use the form below to send a message to the City of Reno today.

City staff has prepared changes to the sign code to allow any business – from pawn shops to liquor stores – in the downtown district in addition to casinos to have 100-foot-tall signs with no limit on number, size or types of lighting.

That could mean more digital displays as big as those erected by casinos. Or it could mean many smaller signs cluttering the downtown streets, degrading further the aesthetics there and possibly lowering property values. And with the prospect of more and bigger signs allowed, it could lead to zone change requests in the future to extend the boundaries of the downtown district so that others can have unlimited signs.

Please join Scenic Nevada in opposing this move to increase signs downtown. Use the form at the bottom of this page to send a letter to the Reno Planning Commission, City Council, city staff, and city manager. City officials are expected to review the proposed changes this month and next.

Sign Code Cleanup

The targeted area is called the Mixed-Use – Entertainment District (MD-ED) – one of the many mixed-use districts in the city – and spans about 136 acres.

Today, the code says signs in the mixed-use districts like the MD-ED are limited to eight feet tall on parcels under an acre and up to 35 feet tall on over an acre. The sign size is set at 125 to 250 square feet and digitals are allowed under limited circumstances. Only casinos get the largest signs in the mixed-use districts and in “Gaming Overlays,” areas of the city that include gaming establishments in and outside of downtown.

The city is in the midst of going through the entire city code, making corrections and clarifications since the code was redone in 2021. The sign code changes are part of that effort. Buried in the proposed text is a clarification that limits big signs to casinos in the Gaming Overlay areas with one exception – the downtown MD-ED would get them, too.

The city says that’s the way it was for 16 years until 2021 when the code changed and big signs were limited to casinos in all the mixed-use zones, including the downtown area. Now, the city staff wants to bring big signs in unlimited numbers back to all businesses in the downtown entertainment district just because that’s the way it was before.

City Staff Reverses Positions

The first draft changes, circulated by staff, clarified that only casinos were entitled to the biggest signs while eight-foot signs for mixed use districts remained the same. Click to see the original changes in the sign code chart.

That draft was presented at community meetings, the Reno Planning Commission and the City Council. Assistant Director of Planning Services, Angela Fuss, told the commissioners in April that the changes were to clarify the intent of the regulation.

“We added verbiage to the gaming related sign regulations to clarify that they only apply to legally established gaming establishments in the overlay,” Ms. Fuss said. “…gaming overlay also includes some different buildings that are not casinos and so we don’t want the average pawn shop owner or Burger King to have a10-foot-tall sign.”

And now they do. The city tossed the version that clarifies the intent to make sure only casinos get the biggest signs and replaced it with another that allows all casinos and any other business in the downtown entertainment district to have the same unlimited signage as casinos have had historically.

Proposed Changes Could Be Adopted Early Next Year

The city wants your feedback. Ms. Fuss presented the new draft at stakeholder meetings held last week. Click here to read the new draft. She encouraged the attendees to submit their feedback in writing. She explained the proposed changes will be presented to the planning commission in October and the city council in November also for feedback. After that, the final draft would go to the neighborhood advisory boards for review and then back to the planning commission and city council for adoption early next year.

Use the form below to send a letter today!

It’s frustrating to see the city consider discarding existing sign regulations, which are meant to regulate the proliferation of digital and other signs. We see this as an invitation to downtown property owners to clutter their businesses with multiple signs “by right” – no public input, no public hearings.

Allowing more signs won’t improve the aesthetics of downtown, which has a somewhat tacky and outdated vibe. Over time, it could lead to sign wars with businesses competing for attention like carnival barkers with megaphones. We see no reason to allow more garish digital signs and sign clutter to make it worse. Send your letter today and pass this email on to others.