Allegiant Stadium sign proposal delayed as county awaits FAA review

Clark County officials on Wednesday again postponed action on the Raiders’ request for waivers to development standards for signs planned for Allegiant Stadium.

The county Zoning Commission delayed the item regarding the stadium sign plan until its Nov. 6 meeting, as it is still waiting for word from the Federal Aviation Administration. The commission previously postponed the item from the Sept. 18 meeting.

The team is seeking seven waivers from the existing county sign code that would include increasing the size of video boards, increasing the number of animated and freestanding signs, reducing setbacks from roads and reducing the separation between freestanding signs for the 65,000-seat, $2 billion indoor stadium under construction at Interstate 15 and Russell Road.

The county’s staff has recommended approval of the waivers, which would cover 650 signs, including 48 animated boards. The largest of those is a 180-foot video screen along the stadium frontage facing I-15 and Dean Martin Drive that would cover 18,000 square feet, about one-third the size of a football field.

The proposed signage is needed to promote the stadium and events within it and is similar to other uses within the resort corridor that include hotels and facilities such as T-Mobile Arena, the Raiders application said.

The team also is requesting five freestanding roof and wall signs that would include animation that aren’t addressed in county codes. Because of the height and location of the signs, they are subject to FAA review.

Commissioner Michael Naft said the holdup on acting on the waivers is because of “unrealistic optimism” about how quickly the FAA would move on the matter.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said there is no delay on its end, as the agency only received the plan late last month.

“The FAA received the sign submissions on Sept. 24, 2019 — 16 work days ago — and we are evaluating them,” Gregor said. “The project sponsor submitted the proposed signs per federal law to allow the FAA to evaluate them to determine if they could pose a hazard to aircraft or navigation aids.”

Federal law requires developers to alert the FAA of any tall construction proposals near airports. The Raiders received FAA approval to construct the 225-foot-tall stadium, which sits roughly 1½ miles away from McCarran International Airport, in 2017 after officials determined it wouldn’t pose a hazard to commercial jetliners and military aircraft flying through Las Vegas.

The delay has no effect on the stadium’s construction schedule, Raiders’ President Marc Badain told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.