Council approves deal with billboard company

Thursday, March 6, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.

North Las Vegas is trading billboards downtown for billboards along the highway and making a little money along the way.

The City Council voted 5-0 on Wednesday to approve two separate 10-year leases for property along Interstate 15 between Gowan and Alexander roads with The Lamar Cos. Lamar will be allowed to build one billboard on each property.

In return Lamar will remove two of its billboards from the downtown area and pay the city $36,000 to lease the two properties for the first year.

The lease price will increase 2 percent in each of the remaining years of the contract.

Exactly which two downtown billboards will be removed is undetermined, but they will be from the area around Las Vegas Boulevard between Owens Avenue and Lake Mead Boulevard, Randy Cagle, city manager of real property services, said.

Lamar offered the most money of several companies being considered and was the only company that also agreed to remove existing billboards from the downtown area, Cagle said.

Current city law only allows new billboards on industrial-zoned property along I-15 and Rancho Drive. Billboards are also allowed along the Las Vegas Beltway as part of the development agreement for the Aliante master-planned community.