Lincoln City Council voted last week to approve new regulations for billboards within city limits. A summary follows:

The changes to city code include lowering the allowable height for billboards to 45 feet (from the previously allowed 55 feet) within certain commercially and industrially zoned parts of the city.

Billboards will also be subject to an increased set back limit of 75 feet from existing buildings or overhead power lines, 300 feet from residentially zoned property, parks, playgrounds, schools, libraries and places of worship, as well as 500 feet from any other billboard.

Structures can have a maximum of four panels, totaling 300 square feet or less in area, with each panel no larger than 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide.

Illuminated digital billboards must be stationary and have no visible moving parts, alternating or moving messages.

The new ordinance language also specifies that messages may not appear to “flash, undulate, pulse, move or portray explosions, fireworks, flashes of light or blinking lights or otherwise appear to move toward or away from the viewer, expand or contract, bounce, rotate, spin, twist, or make comparable movements.”

The digital display on a billboard will not be allowed to change more frequently than once every 10 seconds, with a transition period of one second or less.

All illuminated billboards will also be required to have an ambient light monitor, which will continuously monitor and automatically adjust the brightness level of the display, based on the surrounding ambient light conditions. Brightness will be measured in units of “foot-candles” within 150 feet of the sign.

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