Nevada City takes dim view of brighter gas sign

[Erik Sine]

Nevada City takes dim view of brighter gas sign

More lighting is rejected for Chevron station

By Greg Moberly, The Union.com

12:01 a.m. PT Dec 14, 2007

In the battle to keep western Nevada County from turning into Anywhere USA, Nevada City scored a small victory against Chevron Corp.

The victory won't look like much - and that's the whole point, city leaders said late Wednesday when they denied the giant corporation its request to add more lighting to its gasoline station on Sacramento Street, which is highly visible from Highway 20/49.

City Council members did agree unanimously to allow the 301 Sacramento St. station to update its tall price sign with a slightly modified logo and brighter tones of blue and white. Chevron is expected to update the sign in early January, city planner Cindy Siegfried said.

The lighting and signage changes are part of the company's nationwide plan to update the look at its stations, an "image refresh program," Siegfried explained. A station representative did not cite improved security as a reason for the improved lighting.

But adding lights to the siding of the canopy that shelters the pumps was too much.

Corporate preference "is really not a compelling reason to grant this," said Councilman Steve Cottrell.

"It seems like such a real invasion of another corporation," said resident Tomas Streicher.

Lighting and signage have been battlefields in the fight between worldwide corporations and small towns struggling to maintain a sense of identity - including in western Nevada County.

Grass Valley moved to curtail internally illuminated signs in a new development code passed in March. The new code banned internally lighted signs in most Grass Valley locations.

"The city has moved toward externally illuminated, historically oriented signs for several years," said Grass Valley Community Development Director Joe Heckel.

Nevada City's General Plan allows the city to regulate lighting which can be seen from Highway 20/49.

"The general purpose will be to screen all development except at the center of town, so that the appearance from the highway will be as though one were in the forest, as it must have been in the early days of Nevada City," the General Plan states.

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To contact Staff Writer Greg Moberly, e-mail gregm@the union.com

[manuellynch]

In Nevada there is also a lot of discussions about the intensity/brightness of the LED billboards. Does anybody have any first hand experience with this issue?

LSI and Federal Heath are the ones doing the signage for Chevron.