Encino Homeowners Act : Lawsuit Seeks to Limit Rooftop Signs’ Height

An Encino homeowners’ group sued the City of Los Angeles Monday in an effort to force rooftop signs to conform with the height restrictions that govern the buildings on which they rest.

The group, which has long complained about high-rise development on Ventura Boulevard, singled out as offensive a cigarette billboard atop a three-story office building at 17609 Ventura Blvd.

Although the building itself complies with a city zoning law height limit of three stories at that location, the billboard rises to 65 feet above the ground. Homeowners of Encino maintains that the spirit of the zoning law dictates that the building and the sign together should not exceed 45 feet, the height allowed in a three-story zone.

The city municipal code, however, specifically exempts rooftop signs from the height restrictions that apply to structures, according to Sharon Siedorf, deputy city attorney. Also exempted from the code are air conditioners and other fixtures typically situated on roofs, she said.

The homeowners’ group maintains that a specific land-use plan for Encino, adopted by the City Council in 1980, should supersede the city’s general zoning laws. The plan sets strict development guidelines and does not exempt rooftop signs from the three- and six-story height limits the plan imposes along Ventura Boulevard.

“The billboard sign represents the type of visual blight and pollution which was to be stopped by the specific plan,” said Robert Rome, vice president of the homeowners’ association.

Rome said that, although his house is six blocks from Ventura Boulevard, “I can read the small letters on that billboard--’Smoking has been determined to be hazardous to your health’--from my living room.”

Siedorf said that allowing signs to exceed zoning height limits is “a long-standing interpretation” by city officials. “I’d like to see the city’s interpretation of its own codes upheld,” she added.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving A. Shimer on Monday rejected the association’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from issuing permits for signs exceeding building height limits. At the same time, however, he ordered the city to appear in court Feb. 22 to show cause why he should not issue a preliminary injunction to halt such permits until the lawsuit is resolved.

Association attorney Janice Kamenir Reznik said that, if the homeowners win the suit, that could affect other areas of the city with specific land-use plans, including Warner Center, Westwood Village, Century City, Hancock Park and San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood.

Reznik will be reviewing city zoning permit applications before Feb. 22 to determine how many sign requests are pending before the city’s Department of Building and Safety.