The Reno City Council is expected to approve a revision of the city's on-premise digital sign ordinance that could affect the brightness of digital signs such as this one at Grand Sierra Resorts.
The Reno City Council is expected to approve a new on-premises digital sign ordinance at its Dec. 2 meeting. The ordinance is limited to digital signs at businesses and not free-standing billboards.
The ordinance includes language expected to preserve mountain views in Reno’s outlying areas and limits how bright digital displays can be.
Complaints about brightness from some signs prompted the ordinance update, said Claudia Hanson, planning manager for the city.
The problem is with nighttime illumination, she said.
Businesses with existing digital displays brighter than permitted will have two years to bring them into compliance.
“We’re going out and working with property owners,” she said.
Provisions of the digital sign ordinance include:
• Animated signs can only be displayed within 750 feet (changed from 300 feet) of residentially zoned property with a special-use permit.
• Signs cannot exceed 1,500 nits of luminosity at night and cannot exceed 5,000 nits in daylight hours. (A nit is a measure of brightness of a computer display equal to one candela per square meter, which is roughly equal to the light from one candle.)
• No animated signs will be allowed within 300 feet of the travel lane of State Route 431, Interstate 80 west of Robb Drive, U.S. 395 north of North McCarran Boulevard, and Interstate 580 south of South McCarran Boulevard.
• Animated signs within the above areas prior to Dec. 2, 2015, can only be enlarged or relocated with a special use permit.
The city council will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the Reno City Council Chamber, 1 East First Street, Reno.
