All Signs Point to Hot Debate Over Auto Mall Message Board : Advertising: Thousand Oaks planners will consider the plan for a three-story lighted structure above the Ventura Freeway.

Aesthetic purists will square off against business boosters Monday when the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission considers the Auto Mall’s proposal to build an electronic message board three stories above the Ventura Freeway.

Early debate has been heated, with some critics contending the sign would become an unavoidable eyesore while supporters insist it would boost the local economy.

The only thing both sides agree on is that the proposed message board’s appearance would be quite different from that of other Thousand Oaks signs.

Two cream-colored stucco pillars rising 28 feet above Auto Mall Drive would anchor the sign. At the top, a metal and stucco globe featuring rust-colored, textured continents would become the Auto Mall’s trademark motif.

And below the globe, a message board would display advertisements and public service announcements, spelled out in lights similar to those that flash on the Oxnard Auto Mall’s freeway sign. Designers have planned landscaping around the sign and planters along the tiered pillars to soften the angular lines.

Auto Mall representatives discussed their proposal extensively with council members Alex Fiore and Judy Lazar in an attempt to come up with an attention-grabbing sign that would not clash with Thousand Oaks’ muted design standards.

But despite their efforts, the city planning staff has concluded that the message board violates several design guidelines. Because the Planning Commission must vote solely on the basis of the municipal code, staff is recommending denial of the Auto Mall proposal.

As an alternative to rejecting the sign outright, the Planning Commission could table the issue and ask the City Council to draft new guidelines for message boards and pole signs.

During Monday night’s hearing, the commissioners will probably hear the same arguments they listened to last summer, when The Oaks shopping center requested permission to spruce up its exterior with modern-looking purple and green canopies. The Planning Commission rejected The Oaks’ request, but the City Council later approved the embellishments on a 3-2 vote.

The Auto Mall debate may even mimic the nit-picking semantics arguments that flared during The Oaks hearings. While discussing the shopping mall’s renovations, council members Lazar and Fiore disagreed on whether the purple tone more resembled eggplant or plum.

And at a council meeting this week, Fiore got into a brief word-choice argument with a citizen protesting the Auto Mall’s proposal.

In an angry speech, Suzanne Duckett described the sign as a “pulsating” electronic message board. Hurrying to correct her, Fiore said the sign would “flash” but not “pulsate”--a distinction which eluded Duckett.

“If that sign goes in, I will never buy another car from the Auto Mall again,” she said. “Why do they want to offend their customers and the people of Thousand Oaks?”

But Auto Mall backers argue that the proposed sign would add some much-needed flair to the city’s bland beige look. And they say new advertising techniques are the only way to attract more customers to the mall, which provides a large portion of Thousand Oaks’ sales tax revenue.

“Personally, I would find it a welcome relief from the monotony of earth-toned structures, red tile roofs and uninformative small signs,” resident Fred Wilson wrote the commissioners.

W.F. Haeger, regional sales manager for the Cadillac dealership in the Auto Mall, also endorsed the proposal in a letter. “The proposed sign offers all dealerships a competitive advantage,” he wrote.