AGOURA HILLS : City Considers New Measure on Signs

In response to an initiative it considers inadequate, the Agoura Hills City Council may put a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot limiting the height of advertising signs, in an attempt to preserve the picturesque nature of the town.

During a Wednesday afternoon meeting, the council discussed alternatives to a measure on the ballot encouraging local business owners to lower or group their signs, some of which are well over 100 feet tall. That measure, sponsored by the merchants, would fail to require lower signs and could lead to the reinstallation of 10 recently removed signs, opponents said.

After an informal poll of the council Wednesday, most members seemed prepared to ask voters to impose a height limit of about 35 feet and require merchants to group their logos on “monument-style” supports.

Although other structures in Agoura Hills already are limited to 35 feet, merchants contend that lowering their signs that far would hide them from freeway motorists, who provide most of the business for local gas stations and fast-food restaurants. The city’s planning staff will make its own report on that issue at a public hearing before the council considers approving a ballot measure.

“We want to make sure it’s something that has a good chance of being approved,” said Mayor Ed Kurtz. “We want something on the ballot that is going to be workable because I think a compromise with the merchants, at this point, is unlikely.”

The debate over the so-called “pole signs” heated up last year as the April, 1992, deadline to remove the signs neared. In 1985, the council ordered the signs taken down within seven years, but have allowed them to remain in place while negotiations with the merchants continued. Kurtz, who led those negotiations, said the impasse over the issue calls for a referendum.

“Let the voters decide between their measure and our measure or, if both are defeated, the law, which requires (the signs) to be taken down,” Kurtz said. “It’s time to put this thing to rest.”