Electronic billboards bashed

RENO -- Reno city planners said they are reviewing billboard regulations as community activists oppose a proposed change that would allow bright, digital signs.

The group, Scenic Nevada, led a voter-approved initiative in 2000 that froze the number of billboards in the city. Now, activists fear electronic billboards would turn the city into a sea of lights, destroying its character and posing a danger to motorists who might be distracted by the changing displays.

"They are brighter than the sun," said Peter Chase Neumann, Scenic Nevada board chairman and a Reno lawyer. "It's almost like someone put a strobe light in your eye."

At Councilman Dwight Dortch's urging, the Reno City Council recently sent the issue to the Planning Commission for debate. Digital billboard signs are illegal under the city's zoning code, while digital signs that promote a business on the same property are allowed in some instances.

Kelly Sleep, a city planner, said a report to the Planning Commission will come in a few months after a study of how other cities regulate signs that use LED technology.

The Reno code allows lights only to shine on billboards and forbids the signs from producing light, but changes could include a ban on animation and a review of possible traffic danger.

Rules for on-premise signs also will be studied, she said.

"You can't ignore these things," said Doug Smith, president of Scenic Nevada. "That's why the sign companies love them."

The billboard industry has adopted standards for using the new technology, said Susan Holshouser, local manager for Clear Channel Outdoor, the largest billboard company in the world.

The region's first LED billboard was installed by Clear Channel at the southeast corner of McCarran Boulevard and Greg Street in Sparks. Holshouser said it has no streaming video and self-adjusting lights dim at sunset.

"There's no animation. No flashing. No scrolling," she said. The sign changes images every eight seconds.

Holshouser said the signs are the new wave of technology and are going up across the country.

She said several traffic safety studies have been done without finding any hazards with the billboards.

Law enforcement agencies also approve of the signs because they can be reprogrammed quickly for public service messages, she said.