VENTURA : Auto Center Message Board OKd by City

The Ventura City Council has approved a heavily debated proposal by car dealers to install an 8- by 17-foot electronic message board in the sign for the Ventura Auto Center off the southbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway.

The council voted 4 to 3 Monday to approve the dealers’ request to raise the sign’s height from 55 feet to 65 feet and install the board after dealers said they would lose business without it. As approved, the board will show car sales information and public service messages in flashing lights, which can be white or colored.

Some of the dealers warned the council that it would be seen as having an anti-business stance if it rejected the message board.

But council members who opposed the message board said the flashing sign could set a precedent, making it easier for more signs like it to be installed in the future.

The dealers had requested the sign change to make themselves more competitive with other auto centers in the county.

“We’re not out to be the ugliest sign or the most obvious sign in the world. In fact, it’s just the opposite,” said Larry Rasmussen, the architect who designed the Ventura Auto Center’s signs.

City Planner Ann Chaney has said the future of the auto center is vital to Ventura’s economic well-being because dealers in the city make up the largest single component in Ventura’s sales-tax base. The plan approved Monday night would also permit nine 45-foot-high signs of no more than 150 square feet for individual dealerships.