The 2008 - 09 City Budget was approved by the Lincoln City Council. The council met Monday night to formally pass the budget that's been in the works for several months. It passed by a 7 - 0 vote.

Meanwhile, the council tackled several other city issues.

The first major issue the council discussed has to do with design standards for the new Antelope Valley Development. The standards address how buildings can look, how much glass they can have in them, and what materials can be used to build them; just to name a few. They're aimed at protecting the development from buildings that would lower the value of surrounding properties.

Not everyone agrees how the standards should be instituted however, so rather than vote on the standards, the City Council decided to delay action for two weeks.

The other issue they discussed was the annexation and rezoning of land north east of 84th and Havelock so the Lancaster County Ag. Society can use the land for a hotel development so people coming to events at the Lancaster County Event Center will have a place to stay.

Mayor Beutler wanted restrictions on this land use, so the Ag. Society can't build a fixed seat arena that would likely seat 4,000 people. He was worried it would compete with the proposed Haymarket Arena.

The council decided that there would be no competition since the Lancaster County Event Center would be geared toward agriculture, instead of the major concert and sporting events that will be at the Haymarket Arena.