Pubdate: Thu, 28 Aug 2014
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2014 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Ed Komenda
Page: 1A

POT CLINICS GET PASS ON GLOW RULE

No Neon, No Problem, Says City in Announcing Waivers

If you want to set up a business on Las Vegas Boulevard between 
Washington and Sahara avenues, one thing's for certain: You will need 
a neon sign.

Unless you're in the medical marijuana industry.

Though the city's Scenic Byway Plan requires all establishments in 
that part of the boulevard to have signs with 75 percent neon to 
preserve the road's storied history as a glowing desert landmark, the 
city of Las Vegas is making an exception for owners of the medical 
marijuana dispensaries rapidly spreading across the Las Vegas Valley.

At a Downtown Design and Review Committee meeting Tuesday, planning 
officials announced that they will offer waivers to medical pot 
dispensaries in the Scenic Byway, exempting them from hanging any neon at all.

"In the case that we have dispensary applications that are located in 
the Scenic Byway, staff is recommending approval of waivers from the 
requirement

Dispensaries restricted for neon and animated signage, based on the 
unique character of the use," said Flinn Fagg, the city's retiring 
director of planning. "In this particular application, and also in 
any subsequent applications that may be in the Scenic Byway, you'll 
notice that we do recommend approval of the waiver from the Scenic 
Byway environment."

City officials say the waivers are needed to resolve a conflict with 
a ban on use of neon signs by medical marijuana dispensaries, which 
must maintain a "professional" and "medical" appearance rather than a 
"Las Vegas appearance," as one planning consultant described it. Why? 
"So they don't look like Colorado," the consultant said. "You 
wouldn't expect a doctor's office to (have neon)."

The law says a dispensary's sign cannot exceed 30 square feet and 
must be "internally illuminated, with the use of neon prohibited." 
It's a requirement listed in the fine print of special-use permits 
for medical marijuana dispensaries in most states.

Fagg said neon-free marijuana dispensaries are acceptable because 
there are so few that dimly lit shops would not affect the city's 
scenic atmosphere.

For other businesses, the neon approval process is often difficult.

At the previous Downtown Design meeting, the city denied a Sahara 
Development LLC request to have a "simulated" neon sign at a new 
Walgreens store near the recently opened SLS Las Vegas. The sign was 
not made of 75 percent neon, officials said

Jonathan Stern of Albuquerque-based Modulus Architects would not 
comment on the city's decision to hold Walgreens to the neon 
requirement while waiving it for medical marijuana businesses.

City officials say the waivers do not represent a lopsided advantage 
for businessmen in the medical marijuana industry. It's too early to 
tell how business owners still bound by the law will react.

"It's not an exception to medical marijuana. It's because the 
requirements are very strict," said Tom Perrigo, the city's chief 
sustainability officer. "They've been placed in that position of 
conflict by the code. We have to grant them a waiver. ... It's just 
the timing of everything. It all happened at once, and we didn't have 
time to get it all aligned."

In 2009, the city announced that Las Vegas Boulevard from Washington 
to Sahara avenues would be named a National Scenic Byway. A surplus 
of neon signage there qualified the area as a Scenic Byway, a 
designation aimed at preserving an area's cultural history.

Today, the Las Vegas Scenic Byway is one of the nation's most-traveled.

"Neon signs are important to us because they're our cultural icons," 
said Nancy Deaner, director of the city's Office of Cultural Affairs.

The designation allows the city to apply for federal grants to pay 
for new neon signs that would enhance the street's glowing aesthetic. 
After the designation landed in Las Vegas, the city imposed its own 
rules, requiring at least 75 percent exposed neon or animation on new signs.

After the city announced it would offer waivers to medical marijuana 
dispensaries in the Scenic Byway, planning officials routinely 
approved company's applications, including plans from Boulevard 
Medical LLC and GB Sciences Nevada LLC.

During the approval process, planning officials pay close attention 
to everything from the color or paint an applicant plans to use on 
the outside of a dispensary to the amount of rehabilitation work the 
building requires before a grand opening.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom