Anaheim Keeps Up Barricade to Billboards : Advertising: Los Angeles company has been trying for 10 years to get permission to erect the signs along freeways.

A Los Angeles advertising firm which has been trying for 10 years to get permission to place freeway billboards throughout the city was turned down Tuesday by the City Council.

“(It’s) a dead issue unless the company chooses to resurrect it later,” Mayor Tom Daly said.

Regency Outdoor Advertising Inc. was seeking to erect 10 billboards along freeways in the city. In exchange, they proposed tearing down 13 smaller billboards on city streets.

The Los Angeles company has been lobbying for a decade to persuade city officials to overturn the ban. They also failed in 1985, 1988 and twice in 1992.

The billboard proposal has continually been opposed by members of the business community, including the Walt Disney Co. They have complained that the billboards would add clutter.

The city’s planning staff has also said the proposal would interfere with efforts to improve the appearance of the tourist areas.

The company proposed putting up four billboards at the junction of the Orange and Riverside freeways. The 950-square-foot signs would have been up to 60 feet above the road. They also would have been at least 500 feet apart from each other.

In August, the council postponed consideration of the proposal.