AGOURA HILLS : Freeway Sign Bill Clears 2 Hurdles

A measure allowing businesses to place their logos on signs along the Ventura Freeway in Agoura Hills has cleared two major hurdles and may be headed toward quick approval in the Assembly and state Senate, a spokesman for Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood) said Tuesday.

The bill, meant to provide an alternative to the city’s towering, pole-mounted signs, is expected to come to a vote in the Assembly later this week, said Rand Martin, a senior consultant for Friedman, who sponsored the legislation and whose district includes Agoura Hills. The proposed signs would include clusters of area businesses’ logos.

The bill so far has passed the Governmental Organization Committee, where a nearly identical measure stalled last year due to opposition from the billboard industry, and the Ways and Means Committee.

Billboard company officials contend that, if approved, the five-year demonstration project in Agoura Hills could eventually spread statewide, possibly putting some of them out of business. But although legislators will evaluate the success of the program in 1998, going statewide is not the measure’s main objective, Martin said.

The measure has also been opposed by several Agoura-area business owners, who say placement of smaller signs along the freeway might help justify a city law requiring the removal of their pole-mounted signs. A measure on the Nov. 2 ballot would allow the pole signs in Agoura Hills to remain in place.

Pending approval in Sacramento, Friedman’s bill could become law Jan. 1.