Sign of the times: Billboards under fire

Thursday, May 18, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

In a region known for glitz and where neon and bright lights seemingly have been jammed into every available square foot, billboards advertising strip clubs, risque nightclubs and casinos almost seem like a natural extension of the landscape.

But amid growing complaints about the oversized advertisements' adult-oriented themes in particular - and about the visual pollution caused by them in general - Las Vegas Valley governments are striving to rein in the proliferation of billboards, sometimes waging costly court battles to protect their ordinances from challenges.

Earlier this month, North Las Vegas, at the urging of anti-billboard activists, reaffirmed its two-year-old ban on new billboards when the developer of a proposed 2,600-acre master-planned community sought an agreement that would have allowed seven along the Las Vegas Beltway. Other local governments are defending similar measures in court.

While Las Vegas' history and the garishness of the Strip might make this seem an unlikely locale for that battle, what's happening locally is not unusual.

Four states - Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont - prohibit all billboards; Oregon and Rhode Island prohibit new ones, and at least 1,500 cities have banned new billboards, according to Scenic America, a nationwide advocacy group.

"We are setting a great example by following the rest of the country," said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a Scenic Nevada board member. "Some people say this is Las Vegas, but so what? We have schools, parks and churches. We care about our quality of life."

In trying to prevent the unfettered growth of billboards, local leaders find themselves trying to balance business and First Amendment issues with a desire not to see every area of the valley overrun with unsightly billboards.

"There are appropriate places for heavy advertising the closer you are to the tourist areas, but people don't want to see them closer to their homes," Henderson Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said.

Clark County and Boulder City enacted ordinances in 2004 that banned new billboards. Last week, a federal judge sided with Boulder City, which was sued by a billboard firm after the city rejected a request for new signs.

In July, the validity of Clark County's ordinance will be tested in federal court in Las Vegas by a billboard company whose signs along the beltway were rejected by the county.

The same company that unsuccessfully sued Boulder City has a trial pending in state court against Henderson's restrictions limiting new billboards to U.S. 95 between Russell Road and Lake Mead Boulevard.

Objections from the billboard industry, meanwhile, prompted the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday to kill a proposed ordinance that industry officials said would have drastically reduced the number of billboards allowed in the city. Negotiations are continuing on developing changes to existing codes.

The wave of activity involving billboards has not gone unnoticed by community activists, who have long lobbied local governments to restrict billboards they regard as not only visual blight and clutter but also, in the case of adult-themed ads featuring scantily clad people, inappropriate for children's viewing.

With more than 1,200 billboards already in Clark County, opponents fear there will be a push to undo restrictions now in place.

"I don't think the industry is going to sit back and settle for what they have - with any business it's about expansion and growth," Mayo-DeRiso said. "They were shut down in Clark County and Henderson, and they are trying to move to the next frontier. They are showing us their cards."

Paul Larsen, attorney for Clear Channel Outdoor, insists there is no organized effort by billboard companies to do away with current restrictions.

But Larsen also said he sees little room left for additional billboards.

"Around the entire valley and in Southern Nevada in particular, there isn't a heck of a lot of new locations that meet the existing distance requirements," Larsen said.

Billboard companies will, however, work against proposed rules that take away existing property rights, Larsen said.

That was the case with the proposed Las Vegas ordinance, which would have been the toughest in the region, he said.

Under it, the distances between existing billboards and residential areas would have been increased from 300 feet to as much as 750 feet - a change that could have forced many billboards' removal. Billboards also would have been excluded along U.S. 95 to the Spaghetti Bowl, and other restrictions, such as setback requirements, would have essentially led to the removal of many signs.

"Their intent was to make the billboards go away without paying for them," Larsen said. "We don't believe it would have withstood judicial scrutiny."

A state law enacted in 2001 prevented local governments from removing existing billboards without paying for them, Clark County Planning Manager Chuck Pulsipher said. Doing so would cost millions of dollars and is not practical, he said.

"They could make us go away tomorrow if they just pay us for them," Larsen said.

Billboards in prime locations can fetch as much as $20,000 to $30,000 monthly, officials said.

The First Amendment protects the rights of billboard owners to display racy advertisements, so long as no nudity is involved.

Unable to regulate content, anti-billboard groups instead have tried to restrict the number of billboards.

Mayo-DeRiso said she has not given up on trying to persuade the Las Vegas City Council to ban new billboards. She also said she will encourage North Las Vegas to resist any requests to carve out exceptions to its ordinance.

Anti-billboard activists said while they have no problem with adult-oriented billboards along the Las Vegas Strip and tourist corridor, they believe parents have a right to protect their children elsewhere.

"We shouldn't be forced to throw a quarter on the floor when we pass a billboard and want our kids to divert their eyes," said Heidi Wixom, a co-founder of the anti-billboard group Main Street Billboard Coalition.

"Ninety-nine percent of the billboards are decent. It's the 1 percent that is not exemplary. People forget this is not just a tourist attraction. We are home to a million and a half people, where we live and drive and take our children."