Minden Town Board members approved Carson Valley Inn's new entry sign which is to be brighter than the sign currently greeting guests at the Minden casino.
The board voted 5-0 Wednesday to approve a variance from 20 feet to 26 feet and to vary the distance from the bottom of the sign to grade from 2 feet to 8 feet.
"The sign is like your business card," said architect Larry Henry. "The current sign is dated and doesn't show what's going on inside the casino. The new sign shows this is an up-to-date facility."
The existing sign at Eighth Street and Highway 395 will be removed and a new sign installed farther west on Highway 395 as part of the loading dock and landscaping improvements.
The sign is 26 feet tall now, but in order to move it to a new
location, the casino has to have a variance to deal with Douglas County's new height
limit of 20 feet.
Minden resident Mary Jane Hillenbrand asked for assurance that the sign would not be too bright.
"A lot of citizens are concerned about brightness, about what the sign might do to our ability to look at the stars," she said.
Community Development Director Mimi Moss, who attended the town board meeting, said Douglas County was regulating the intensity level based on Carson City's ordinance.
"It will be reduced at night and different in the daylight hours to make sure it's not high intensity," Moss said.
She said the sign would be restricted to five revolutions per minute.
"It can fade in and out, it can't blink," Moss said.
Town engineer Bruce Scott, recommending approval, said the new sign would be more modern, with a reader board.
"If it turns people off because it's too garish or too bright, it will be self-monitored," Scott said.
Town board member Ross Chichester said he didn't object to the new design.
"I'm happy there are some standards with the intensity," he said.
By comparison, the sign at Bodine's casino south of Carson City is 42 feet, 6 inches high. The sign for the proposed C.O.D. Casino in Minden is 25 feet high.
The proposed CVI sign variance is to be heard at 1 p.m. Tuesday by the Douglas County Planning Commission.
