Billboard Moratorium Extended 3 Months by Santa Clarita Council

The Santa Clarita City Council has extended for three months a moratorium on erecting billboards in the city.

The moratorium was adopted to give the city time to develop an ordinance to control what council members called a proliferation of unsightly billboards, especially on Soledad Canyon Road and San Fernando Road. The ordinance, adopted in January and extended by the council in July, would have expired at the end of this month.

The council unanimously approved the latest extension Thursday night. Community Development Director Kyle Kollar said the extra three months would give the Planning Commission enough time to develop an ordinance for the council’s consideration.

In June, the Planning Commission rejected an early version of the ordinance that would have banned new billboards entirely. Commissioners said the ordinance was too strict.

In conjunction with the moratorium, the City Council ordered an investigation into the dozens of signs lining Soledad Canyon Road. The investigation found that 81 of 140 billboards along the road were erected illegally without building permits.

Some of the illegal signs had been standing for years. Others were built just before the city’s incorporation in December. Most of the illegal signs have since been removed, Kollar said.