The Reno City Council is scheduled to discuss whether public and private schools can replace their traditional signs with digital versions during a public hearing May 21.

As part of the city’s effort to update Reno’s sign code, the council will review a set of staff-proposed regulations on digital school signs – the most contested so far being the proposed eight-second flip time and operating hours from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. 365 days a year, whether the school is in session or not.

Some Reno Planning Commissioners rejected those two regulations in a hearing last week, after receiving about 50 letters in opposition. They asked staff to include their recommendations for more restrictive regulations for the city council’s review.

Join us in telling our city and public school officials that digital signs with rotating messages every eight seconds shouldn’t be allowed in our neighborhoods. Sign the letter below.

Right now, no one in Reno, including schools, can have a digital sign within 750 feet of a residentially zoned property without a public hearing and a conditional use permit. This law has worked to protect residential neighborhoods, where most Washoe County schools are located, from day-and-night digital signs.

The proposed regulations will allow digital signs for schools by right, meaning without a special permit and no public hearing, if the sign meets all the requirements in the proposed regulations.

The problem is the draft regulations will not protect our neighborhoods from the negative impacts of digital signs, including:

• Commercialization of Our Residential Neighborhoods
• Disruption of Peace and Quiet
• Public Safety
• Visual and Nighttime Light Pollution
• Energy Consumption

See the comparison chart below for staff’s proposed regulations and Scenic Nevada’s requests.

Proposed Digital Regulation Comparison Chart

At the planning commission hearing Commissioner Silvia Villanueva said she could support digital signs with the proper regulations in place. She opposed the eight-second flip time and said the city should consider some of Scenic Nevada’s suggestions.

Chair Kerry Rohrmeier said she is opposed to digital school signs, finding the digital screens akin to cell phones, which the school district, she said, is restricting on school property. She also called attention to the advertising banners attached to chain link fences surrounding the schools, “everywhere I drive.”

Those banners advertise local businesses who support the schools. Scenic Nevada is concerned that with eight-second flip time principals will be tempted to run ads on the sign for a fee, just like they do now with the banners on the schools’ chain link fences.

Commissioner Jacob Williams was concerned about safety and the proposed sign operating hours. He cited the crowded conditions at schools during pick up and drop offs and said that there had been vehicle vs pedestrian accidents in schools zones this year.

Indeed, digital signs are meant to distract drivers. We think that the 15 mph school zones are meant for drivers to watch for school children instead of looking at a digital sign constantly flipping messages every eight seconds.

Commissioner Christina Del Villar, who lives across the street from a school, said it can take 20 minutes for traffic to clear and suggested that signs shouldn’t be located near crosswalks. She also requested the city council consider more restrictive regulations “to help mitigate the questions and concerns that people have.”

The proposed regulations were developed by city staff after a school district request and meetings between the city, the school district and Scenic Nevada over the last several months. If approved, the regulations will be reviewed again by the city council and possibly adopted at a second reading set for June 4.

Tell the city council how you feel. Send a letter today.