NLV passes ban on new billboards in city

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

North Las Vegas said no to new billboards on Wednesday when the City Council voted 5-0 for a citywide ban that blocks any new applications.

Nine or 10 billboards that have been approved have not been built yet, and an application for one more billboard is expected to go to the council Nov. 23.

But with the council's action on Wednesday, those will be the last.

Mayor Michael Montandon, who calls billboards "vertical pollution," said he was happy the ban passed. Montandon has long been against any new billboards in the city.

The mayor said that even with the ban, it could be another five years before the last of the already approved billboards are built.

Attorney Robert Gronauer, who represented the Focus Group and Lamar Outdoor Advertising before the council Wednesday, said his clients supported the ban on any new billboards.

The mayor said that there were only about 12 places left where the city would allow new billboards. Before Wednesday, city laws limited new billboards to industrial land surrounding Interstate 15 and Rancho Drive.

In all, there are about 112 billboards in the city.

Earlier this year the Clark County Commission voted to ban new billboards from the unincorporated lands except along I-15 north of North Las Vegas. And in August the Boulder City Council voted to ban new billboards from its city.