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Clark County approves temporary lantern festival at Sahara/Paradise with strict conditions
Summary
The County approved a one-time use permit for a temporary lantern festival on a 12.2-acre parking lot near Sahara and Paradise, imposing limits on lantern height, hours, sound, queuing and requiring a post-event review after neighbors complained about traffic, lights and prior event impacts.
The Clark County Commission voted Oct. 8 to approve a one-time use permit for a temporary lantern festival on a 12.2-acre parking lot at the southeast corner of Sahara Avenue and Paradise Road, subject to multiple conditions aimed at limiting noise, light and traffic impacts.
Jennifer Lasovich, representing the applicant, told commissioners the festival would be temporary and carefully managed. "The lantern festival itself is not meant to be a brightly lit or, overly, loud event," Lasovich said, describing themed zones, timed ticketing in two-hour increments and a traffic plan. She said the largest illuminated structures would be limited to 35 feet and that no spotlights or PA speakers would be used except in emergencies.
Nearby residents, including Turnberry Towers occupants, urged the commission to reject the application or impose stronger protections, citing problems at a previous event at the Westgate. "It was disastrous," said Gregory Empson, who said bright lights and loud construction noise affected residents during a prior similar installation. Another resident raised concerns about 45-story towers and security breaches over a fence line.
County staff and the applicant agreed to a list of conditions intended to address those concerns: no spotlights, maximum 35-foot lantern structures, zone-specific limits on low-level ambient sound, no speakers in the food court/food-truck area, on-site security, a 600-foot queuing corridor to prevent backups onto Paradise Road and Karen Avenue, a traffic-management plan to be reviewed by Public Works, ticketed timed entries to stagger arrivals, and a requirement to file a post-event review by May 8, 2026. Lantern lighting curfews were set: generally turned off by 10:30 p.m. Sunday–Wednesday (with later curfew on certain holiday dates and Chinese New Year observances).
Chair moved the approval "based on the conditions that were read into the record," and the motion passed. The commission emphasized monitoring during the event and a willingness to revisit or halt future approvals if the community experiences significant impacts.
Next steps: the applicant must coordinate final traffic plans with Public Works and file the required post-event review; the permit is limited to this specific lantern festival and does not authorize other event types.
