Billboards Must Come Down : Sign Exemption Ends on San Vicente Blvd.

Oversized signs on stores and office buildings along a stretch of San Vicente Boulevard will have to be scaled down or removed in coming months, according to Los Angeles officials.

The enforcement drive comes after expiration of a five-year period during which existing signs were exempt from strict controls embodied in the San Vicente Scenic Corridor Specific Plan. The plan, which was designed to maintain the boulevard’s village-like appearance between Federal Avenue and the Santa Monica city line, was passed in 1980.

Now, landlords and shopkeepers have been advised that Building and Safety Department inspectors will begin enforcing the rules for the older signs.

“The restrictions, which have applied to . . . new signs, have not caused problems for the new businesses--indeed, the new enterprises are thriving,” Councilman Marvin Braude said in a letter mailed this month to landlords and shopkeepers

“Further, the requirements have certainly contributed to the improvement of the appearance of San Vicente.”

‘Glaring Examples’

Although city inspectors have not yet compiled a list of signs that do not conform with the regulations, Braude aide Cindy Miscikowski said there are about a dozen “glaring examples,” including one billboard at the corner of Montana Avenue.

Although several business owners have called to ask for further information, Braude’s office has received few complaints or protests about the new rules, Miscikowski said.

In addition to billboards, the plan bans roof signs and flashing and blinking displays, except those that devote at least 75% of their area to information such as the time and temperature.

Also, businesses are limited to one sign per building unless the concern is on a corner. Free-standing signs on poles cannot exceed 20 feet in height. A formula lays down a maximum ratio of sign area to building size.

“I don’t expect that we’re going to see anything overnight, but I expect that within a year we’re going to see a dramatic change in the skyline of Brentwood,” said Ray Montgomery, zoning chairman for the Brentwood-San Vicente Chamber of Commerce.

Montgomery, a real estate broker, said the chamber worked with Braude’s office and the Brentwood Homeowners’ Assn. to draw up the corridor plan, which also deals with traffic circulation, height limits and density of development. Most of its provisions went into effect in May, 1980.

“Sign regulation was a way of maintaining the attractiveness of (San Vicente) so it didn’t become another Hollywood Boulevard, which is a prime example of when signs get totally out of control,” said Hugh J. Snow, chairman of the homeowner group’s zoning and planning committee.

Community Concerns

He said that before the plan was drawn up both groups had been concerned about large-scale office buildings replacing the existing shopping district.

“For a while it was beginning to look like Brentwood was going to be converted into a Century City of office buildings only,” he said.

Now, with new construction limited to three stories in height, local groups are looking forward to enforcement of the sign rules as well as a proposed amendment dealing with parking, landscaping and building design, Snow said.

The amendment, which is expected to go before the City Council later this year, would require much of the street-level frontage of new buildings to be devoted to stores, restaurants, parks and other small-scale establishments to preserve the street’s pedestrian emphasis.

Parking lots that open to a public street would have to devote 5% of their area to landscaping and buildings taller than one story would be set back from the street.