Council OKs Signboard Ordinance : Proposal: The measure would allow an electronic board to be built in Huntington Beach that would be used mainly for auto dealership advertisements.

Saying the city’s auto dealers need help, the City Council on Monday night voted 6 to 0 to approve an ordinance that would allow an 85-foot-tall electronic signboard that would flash commercials for local dealerships.

The proposed signboard would be built near the interchange of the San Diego Freeway and Beach Boulevard. About 80% of its messages would be commercials for car dealerships on Beach Boulevard and the other 20% would be public-service information.

Opponents criticized the sign on aesthetic grounds. One resident said the sign would make the city look “cheap and sleazy.”

But proponents said the flashing fixture would help recession-beleaguered car merchants on Beach Boulevard while also informing passing motorists of civic events in Huntington Beach.

“This sign structure would attract the freeway traveler to Huntington Beach, thereby making the automobile dealers competitive with dealers in other cities,” said a city economic development staff memorandum to the council.

But in counterpoint, the city’s Planning Commission staff opposed the sign. Howard Zelefsky, speaking for the planning staff, told the council that planners view so-called electronic reader boards as “1992 versions of billboards.”

Some council members expressed concern that they were getting two recommendations from city staff: one opposed and one supporting the sign. City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga told the City Council that the planning staff and economic development staff had different agendas and different viewpoints. “As city administrator, I would say to you, ‘Go with it.’ I think economic concerns do override some of the planning concerns.”

The sign would be built on redevelopment land near the Huntington Center Mall. City staffers said the sign would not be near any homes and therefore would not detract from residential property values.

However critics said the sign would mar the general impression of Huntington Beach and thereby lower real estate values.

“Property values would depreciate; they literally would plummet,” said Barbara Conklin, a critic of the sign and a real estate broker in the city.

However, another real estate broker testified that he did not think property values would suffer.

Conklin was the only person who spoke in clear opposition to the sign proposal during a public hearing before the council’s vote. Six people spoke in favor of the proposal.

Councilwoman Linda Moulton-Patterson said, “I feel auto dealers are so important to this community.”

Added Councilman Earle Robitaille, “We should have done something like this long ago.”