Council approves Sunriver Commons master sign plan with limits on electronic message signs near two residential streets

The City Council approved an amendment to the Sunriver Commons master sign plan (Ordinance 2025-029) that allows electronic message signs on many new monument signs but retains a planning-commission-recommended exception banning electronic message signs on Arrowhead Canyon Drive and Bluegrass Way to protect nearby residents from increased brightness.

Planning staff presented renderings and comparisons to other sites and noted residents had expressed concerns at the planning commission hearing about visual brightness and nighttime glare from electronic signs. The planning commission recommended approval with several conditions addressing brightness and message content; the applicant and sign-industry representative asked the council not to apply all of the planning commission's proposed conditions, arguing the eight-second rotation rule in state law and billboard standards was aimed at off-premise billboards and would unduly limit on-site retail messaging.

An applicant representative, Ray Draper, said signage brightness can be adjusted and metered: "We can adjust these way, way, way low, especially at night." Planning staff noted the city's sign code already includes standards addressing animated or flashing signs and recommended council rely on the existing code for on-premise signage while preserving the two local exceptions for Arrowhead Canyon Drive and Bluegrass Way. Councilmember Steve Kemp moved the motion that kept the planning-commission-recommended prohibition for those two streets but otherwise referred sign standards back to the city code; the ordinance passed on a unanimous roll-call vote.

Council also asked staff to study how LED luminance measurements compare with traditional lighting and to report back, noting technological differences and community concerns about brightness and light pollution.