ANAHEIM : Two Golf Courses, Billboards on Agenda

The City Council today will consider proposals that would privatize its two municipal golf courses, strengthen its smoking ordinance and overturn a 25-year-old ban on freeway billboards.

A Los Angeles firm, Regency Outdoor Advertising Inc., has proposed putting up 10 freeway billboards. Up to 60 feet above the roadway, the signs would be up to 950 square feet and at least 500 feet apart.

The billboards would be scattered throughout the city, but Regency’s proposal also includes installing four signs at the junction of the Orange and Riverside freeways.

The council has shot down four billboard proposals by the company in the last decade. The last billboard sign proposal was defeated in July, 1992.

Opponents of freeway billboards, which include the city Planning Department, argue the signs would diminish freeway appearances and could ruin $1-million freeway landscaping projects.

The council also is scheduled to decide whether to privatize H.G. Dad Miller and Anaheim Hills golf courses. Supporters say it will create additional revenue for the city, while opponents say the city would be losing control of a valuable asset.

City analysts have recommended against privatization. They said financial benefits from having a private company operate the courses are minimal and do not justify the risk of losing control of the courses.

In other action, the council also will weigh a proposal by Councilman Irv Pickler to tighten city smoking regulations. Pickler wants city laws to match a more restrictive 1993 county smoking ban.

For example, while Anaheim allows smoking in film theater lobbies and in privately rented areas and concourses in public buildings, the county does not. The county law applies only to county facilities and unincorporated areas.

City Atty. Jack White has warned council members that more restrictions on smoking may eventually cost the city needed revenue. Some conventioneers may refuse to visit Anaheim if smoking is regulated further, especially at Anaheim Stadium or the Convention Center, White said.