Glendale eases size restrictions for signs on residential buildings
Glendale officials this week agreed to ease restrictions on large signs attached to residential complexes in downtown — part of a move to revitalize the area.
On Tuesday, the City Council took the final step to loosen rules that govern the size and placement of signs, giving developers greater flexibility.
“I just think downtown needs to have lots of lights and advertising. I think that’s what attracts people and makes it stand out,” Mayor Frank Quintero said last week when the council first discussed the matter.
The openness to larger signs on downtown buildings is a shift from the city’s efforts to reduce signs in other ways in the past. City officials have worked for years to reduce the number of billboards and limit the size of signs demarcating businesses.
Rather than being limited to one sign of 8 square feet, large buildings — including the plethora of apartment complexes under construction — will be able to have four identification signs of up to 100 square feet. Under the unanimously approved changes, the signs can also be illuminated.
The change was spurred by several new developments, including Lex on Orange, a 307-unit apartment complex featuring Las Vegas-style cabanas that had requested signs not currently permitted by the city code.
The developers were able to get variances for multiple signs of the complex’s name up to 69.25 square feet, according to a city report.
Developers will also be able to post projecting identification signs as proposed by Camden Triangle, a mixed-use apartment, retail and office space on a triangular lot bordered by Los Feliz Road, Central Avenue and San Fernando Road.
New residential developments downtown will be able to also include leasing office signs of up to 20 square feet. Currently, the signs are only permitted for commercial or mixed-use buildings.
In addition, officials made some tweaks to the city’s creative sign ordinance, which led to the 11-foot letters jutting from a pool of water being built in front of the Glendale Galleria.
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