Moratorium on Signs in Encino Sent to Council

The Los Angeles Planning Commission Thursday approved a measure to prohibit new signs on Ventura Boulevard in Encino that do not conform to a proposed sign-control law for the area. The measure was sent to the City Council, its final hurdle.

The six-month moratorium on new signs was approved 3 to 1, with Commissioner William Luddy dissenting. The moratorium is designed to head off what its sponsor, Councilman Marvin Braude, claims is an effort by the billboard industry to rush construction of signs before the council can act on a proposed law to prohibit new billboards and severely restrict the number, size and location of other signs in Encino.

4 Billboards in 6 Months

Braude, who represents Encino, said that, in the past six months, four billboards have been added to the 30 that already line the 3 1/2 miles of Ventura Boulevard through Encino.

Fred Guido, a vice president of Gannett Outdoor Co. Inc. of Southern California, a major billboard owner, sent a letter to the commissioners objecting that the moratorium would restrict the flow of information to the public on goods and services.

The proposed Encino sign law would prohibit signs larger than 75 square feet. It also would prohibit more than one sign for each business, except those on a corner, which could have one sign on each side of the building.

5-Year Grace Period

Existing signs that do not conform to the law would have to be removed in five years. Exempted are temporary real estate signs advertising the lease or sale of property on which they are located and “temporary political signs, provided that any such sign does not exceed 20 square feet and is removed within 15 days following the election.”

The commissioners, without comment, took no action on an appeal by a representative of the Reseda Revitalization Corp. to extend the moratorium on new signs citywide, pending council action on a sign-control law for the entire city.

Linda Shepherd, program coordinator for the Reseda Revitalization Corp., said the same arguments used to justify a moratorium on new signs in Encino apply citywide.

“We want to be protected from unbridled sign construction,” she said.