Billboard industry wants to block new ordinance

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

For at least the third time in the past two months, Clark County commissioners will debate new rules covering billboards.

This time, it is the industry that will try to block passage of a suggested ordinance that governs billboards.

Industry representatives say a new draft of rules to control billboards in unincorporated parts of the county is too far-reaching.

"I don't think anybody in the industry supports any part of it," said Don Krueger, vice president of Connell Outdoor Advertising and a point man for billboard advertisers.

Clark County commissioners last month rejected an ordinance backed by the industry and written by industry representatives and Commissioner Erin Kenny. Staff and members of the county's town boards, who advise the commission on land use issues, argued that the industry rules would lead to a dramatic increase in signs countywide.

The latest proposal could be introduced as an ordinance during Wednesday's zoning meeting of the commission. It is scheduled for discussion, which does not guarantee that the public can comment.

If it is introduced, public comment and a potential vote could occur in two weeks.

The replacement ordinance drafted by county planners would slightly increase the "billboard overlay district" to increase the area from Decatur Boulevard to Paradise Avenue, and from the Las Vegas city line to Interstate 215.

The district also would include portions along I-215, the Las Vegas Beltway, on the southeast part of the valley, parts of McCarran International Airport and parts of Casino Drive in Laughlin.

Under the proposed rule from the staff, new billboards could be constructed only if they replace a sign that didn't conform to the new rules. And all waivers to the new rules would be banned, keeping the signs inside the overlay districts.

"There's a number of elements that are just abhorrent," Krueger said. "There's no potential upside for the industry."

He singled out the banning of land-use waivers as particularly unfair. Krueger said similar rules aren't levied against other industries, and waivers are necessary to react to changing situations.

"We know in making land use law that we cannot anticipate every instance, every application."

The proposed law doesn't reflect community opinion and isn't likely to pass, he said.

"Here we have an industry that is so in tune with Las Vegas, that employs countless numbers of people, and no one is even discussing the economic issues of a policy that is so heavy-handed," he said.

Kenny said her original ordinance remains on the table and should be considered for passage. She would like to keep the staff's replacement out of action.

"I'm hoping that it's not going to be introduced," Kenny said.

Her ordinance -- a proposal that kicked the debate into overdrive -- would lead to a 15 percent reduction in the number of billboards around the county and would include a minimum 300-foot separation from homes, Kenny said.

"We have to be very cautious when we're making these broad, sweeping changes," she said.

But John Hiatt, chairman of the Enterprise Town Advisory Board, said the proposed rules can work. One of the best things in the package is that county-run McCarran International Airport, which has dozens of billboards, would have to abide by the same rules as other property owners, Hiatt said.

Restricting commercialization in residential areas would help the county, he said.

"I seriously see that billboards are a degradation of neighborhoods."