Group Gains in Fight on Billboards
In its first attempt to flex its political muscle, the Crescenta Valley Town Council has won a step in its battle to ban all new billboards in the semi-rural community.
The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to recommend establishment of a billboard exclusion zone in La Crescenta and Montrose, an isolated, unincorporated island of county territory sandwiched between Glendale and La Canada Flintridge.
The action recommends that the County Board of Supervisors permanently prohibit construction of any new billboards in the La Crescenta area. Action by supervisors is expected in about a month.
The billboard issue was the first undertaken by the nine-member advisory council, formed 16 months ago by residents in a grass-roots effort to gain greater say over their community. The council has no direct legislative power but acts as an adviser to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.
Residents had complained that giant billboards along Foothill and Oceanview boulevards, the main commercial strips, create a visual blight in the hillside community. Most of the billboards have cropped up in recent years.
The proposed exclusion zone would prohibit all new signs. Existing signs could stay indefinitely, but could not be replaced or moved.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
