County says no to more billboards…for now

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 10:36 a.m.

A sign of the times -- no new billboard rules for Clark County, at least for 60 days.

Clark County Commissioners essentially killed a proposed ordinance Wednesday that could have led to more billboards around the county. They tabled a motion to have a public hearing on the proposal and directed staff members to get public input on any new rules that would govern where the large outdoor ads can go.

The commissioners also tabled for 60 days a backlog of about a dozen applications for new billboards around the county.

The ordinance, which was up for a public hearing, would have allowed billboards on most commercially zoned land in the unincorporated county, but only with a permit from the county commission. It also would generally prohibit billboards within 300 feet of single-family homes.

But land-use advisers to the commission, county planning staff and environmentalists had criticized the proposal, saying the ordinance could lead to a proliferation of new outdoor signs.

The common message was that more people should have been involved in drafting the ordinance, written by Commissioner Erin Kenny and representatives from the billboard industry.

Commissioner Myrna Williams, who made the motion to table the public hearing, took the unusual step of publicly condemning the ordinance before the meeting.

"I just don't believe voting to expand growth in outdoor advertising is in any way in the best interest of the people of Clark County," Williams said before the zoning meeting. "I definitely will not support it."

Kenny, ill and taking law school finals on Wednesday, did not attend the meeting. She fired back at critics after the meeting.

"This is a much stronger ordinance than what's now in place," she said. "Obviously, I find that the motion to table was unprecedented and unnecessary."

The law in place basically restricts billboards to an "overlay district." The boundaries: Sahara Avenue on the north, the Las Vegas Beltway on the south, Paradise Road on the east and Decatur Boulevard on the west. However, it also allowed companies to apply for exemptions to place billboards outside that area.

Kenny said staff analysis of the ordinance didn't accurately reflect the intent or probable outcome of the proposed rules. The planning staff had come to the meeting with a map showing large areas of the county, including largely rural routes such as Blue Diamond Road, as potentially open to new billboards.

"Staff basically undermined the intent of the ordinance because they didn't like it," Kenny said.

Commissioners Williams, Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Bruce Woodbury stipulated that they want any proposed new billboard rules to go through workshops with the public and town board members, who represent various areas of the county and advise the County Commission.

The commissioners voted 5-0 to table the public hearing on the billboard ordinance. If they had gone forward with the hearing the commissioners could have immediately voted on the ordinance.

About a dozen people attended the meeting to speak against the issue, but they left after the vote to table.

The solidarity among the attending commissioners dissolved when the issue of what to do with pending billboard applications outside the overlay district came up.

Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who abstained from the motion to table the hearing on the issue because his wife works as a consultant to billboard companies, said it was unfair to continue to hold those applications for another 60 days.

One application has been in the approval process for seven months, said Mark Fiorentino, an attorney representing a realty company seeking two billboards on Las Vegas Boulevard outside the overlay district.

But the commission voted to delay consideration of the billboard backlog until July 5. Williams said legislation in Carson City that would make it harder for the county to get rid of unwanted billboards should be decided by then.

Some residents, although pleased with the eventual decision by county commissioners, said they were frustrated that the public hearing wasn't held and that Kenny didn't attend the meeting.

"It is a blatant disregard for the time of citizens," said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a Spring Valley resident and a zoning consultant. "You show up and Commissioner Kenny is not even here.

"At least now the ordinance will have public input."

Another Spring Valley resident, Cheralin Zaugg, said she also was against the proposed ordinance. The newly constructed beltway runs near her home, and Zaugg feared a proliferation of billboards in her neighborhood.

Zaugg said she is trying to mobilize her neighbors to scrutinize and perhaps oppose new billboard rules.

Industry representative Don Krueger, vice president of Connell Outdoor Advertising, agreed. He said the town advisory boards and others who take a close look at the proposed ordinance won't find much to disagree with.

"If the town boards will have any measure of fair play, I don't think they will be that unhappy with the draft that was submitted," he said.