When Lincoln Planning Director Marvin Krout read about 18 billboards going up along Interstate 80 in eastern Omaha, he shuddered to think the same thing could happen in Lincoln.

That's why he will ask the Lincoln City Council Monday to ban billboards within 660 feet of Interstate 80 and 180 near Lincoln.

It's sort of a backup ban, because the state already forbids the erection of new billboards along interstate highways.

Prompted by the national Highway Beautification Act, Nebraska has regulated billboards along interstates since the 1950s. The act offers financial incentives to states that abide by its standards.

When Nebraska was acquiring interstate rights of way, it obtained easements regulating billboards, but it turns out those easements weren't acquired in a three-mile stretch of interstate in Omaha, Krout said.

"That was a surprise to the city of Omaha," he said.

When Lincoln officials contacted the state to see if the same thing could happen here, they received differing responses and no records proving Lincoln is protected, Krout said. That, in addition to recent efforts in the Legislature to loosen the state law's grip on billboard advertising, led planners to propose the ban to close any potential loopholes.

"At any time these protections that we've relied on from the state could fall through like they did in Omaha," Krout said. "I felt we needed to do something so that I wouldn't be caught with my pants down."

The last time billboards caused a stir of this sort was in the late 1990s, when dozens sprang up around Lincoln, prompting an outcry that led the city to clamp down. The city now regulates minimum space between billboards, caps the number that can be erected near entryways to the city and limits the signs in historic districts and near the Capitol.

But because it was already protected by the state, Interstate 80 was largely ignored.

When the ban Krout is proposing went before the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission, it was opposed by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, the largest provider of billboards in Lincoln.

Martha Lee Heyne of Lamar said the proposal was an overreaction to what happened in Omaha. She said a ban here is unnecessary because a state Department of Roads decision that allowed Omaha to put up the billboards only affects three miles of interstate in Nebraska. And, she said, billboards could help entice travelers to stop in Lincoln and spend money.

Jim Fram, president of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, also opposed the ban, saying studies have shown there aren't enough signs inviting interstate travelers to stop in Lincoln.

City planners say most billboards are leased by national companies selling products, not local attractions. And, Krout said, state law already allows "government signs" to promote local attractions, under certain conditions.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.