Baer's big sign still looming

It should surprise no one that former "Beverly Hillbillies" star Max Baer Jr. wants a really big sign to go with his Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino.

The casino was sold to county government and investors based on Baer's association with the project.

The sign has gone through many permutations over the last decades, starting out as a flaming oil derrick and then moving on to an oil derrick sans flame and now a large tulip shape. Negotiations have reduced the size of the sign over the six months since Douglas County approved the casino located on the border with Carson City.

The sign started out as a derrick 200 feet tall, with readerboards on three sides. Project proponents disconnected the sign from the rest of the casino during its approval in August 2007. County commissioners made it pretty clear at the meeting that had the sign remained with the project, it would not have survived.

Back in August we made the point that the sign was the embodiment of the project. If commissioners liked the idea of a casino based on the "Beverly Hillbillies," approving the variance for the sign shouldn't have been that far a reach.

So here we are after eight months haggling over a sign that is very different from the one that started the process, no longer a derrick, and down to 109-feet tall with readerboards on two sides.

We expect to see an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to the Douglas County Board of Commissioners sometime next month. It is entirely possible county commissioners will reverse the planning commission's recommendation.

If so, expect to see lawsuits challenging the county on sign variances they've refused in the past.