LOCAL ELECTIONS MEASURES A, B : Residents to Decide Fate of Pole Signs

Voters in this city on Tuesday will finally decide the long-contested issue of whether to allow advertisements atop towering poles, which have dominated the skyline of the town since it was little more than a truck stop.

At odds are a well-organized group of merchants, who say the signs along the Ventura Freeway attract crucial business, and residents who argue that the brightly colored signs hawking gas, fast food and other items rob the beauty of the surrounding hills and hurt property values.

Responding to a growing distaste for the signs, the City Council in 1985 ordered them removed within seven years. But as the March, 1992, deadline approached, city officials agreed to negotiate a possible compromise with business owners.

But after months of bitter accusations on both sides, it became apparent the talks were going nowhere.

In a final effort to save their advertisements, many of which are nearly 100 feet tall, a core group of about a dozen merchants gathered signatures to place on the ballot an initiative that would encourage, but not require, the removal of signs.

The council responded by placing a measure on the ballot that would allow business owners to group their logos on specially designed signs limited to 35 feet tall, but not on pole mounts.

On Tuesday, voters will choose one of three possible outcomes:

* Approval of Measure A, the council-drafted plan allowing business owners to erect signs with wide bases, using materials similar to surrounding buildings, up to 35 feet tall.

* Approval of Measure B, the initiative legalizing existing pole-mounted signs, and allowing the replacement of signs removed since 1985.

* Rejection of both measures, keeping in place the law ordering the removal of all pole-top signs.

If both measures are approved by more than half the voters, the one with the most votes prevails.

Citizens Against Pole Signs, a group of local homeowners organized last month, has raised about $2,000 for their campaign encouraging voters to reject measures A and B.

“Pole signs are advertising dinosaurs, and Agoura Hills is the Jurassic Park of the 101 Freeway,” said Ronald J. Kapla, chairman of the group. “We don’t buy the argument that businesses are going to be hurt dramatically because that hasn’t happened in cities with similar measures.”

The fund-raising efforts of the anti-sign group were dwarfed by those of the group sponsoring Measure B, Concerned Tax Contributors, which raised nearly $100,000 during the past two years. The funds, mostly from out-of-town franchises, are unprecedented in the city’s 11-year history.

“It takes money to clear up all the confusion on the issue,” said Ann Stires, assistant political consultant for CTC. “If the businesses are not visible, many of them may end up being forced to close.”