MONTEREY PARK : Group Seeks to Keep Billboard Ban From Being Overturned

In anticipation of a Monterey Park City Council decision to overturn a ban on billboards, a new coalition has turned to voters to try to keep the ordinance in place.

On Dec. 8, the unnamed coalition filed notice with the city about its petition drive for a ballot initiative that would ban new billboards.

“The residents of this city don’t want huge, brightly lit billboards. . . . We want open, countryside-like landscape,” coalition leader Vince Ramirez said.

Regency Outdoor Advertising wants to erect at least 11 billboards along the Pomona (60) and Long Beach (710) freeways in Monterey Park, about half on Operating Industries’ landfill near hillside homes.

Last month, the City Council took the first step toward lifting the 5-year-old ban on new billboards. It voted 4 to 1 to have the city staff bring back a proposed ordinance to lift the ban in commercial areas and draw up a preliminary agreement that would allow the Regency billboards.

Regency’s plan is facing growing opposition from residents and from neighboring Montebello and federal officials. Montebello is threatening to sue Monterey Park unless the city completes an environmental review of the placement of the billboards along the Pomona Freeway, which runs between the two cities. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials are raising questions about the billboards’ location at Operating Industries’ landfill, one of the most polluted Superfund sites in California.

At Monday’s council meeting, coalition leaders urged council members to retain the city’s ban on billboards and avoid the potential cost of a special election--at an anticipated cost of $70,000.

“We will succeed, no doubt about it, but (the city) could use $70,000 in better ways to serve our community, said Lucia Y. Su, a coalition leader.

The group must collect signatures from 20% of the city’s registered voters--about 4,600 people--to put the issue on the ballot.

“Basically, the council is not listening to the people, so the residents are forging ahead with a citizens’ initiative,” said Mayor Judy Chu, who opposes new billboards.

The proposed agreement with Regency to allow the billboards would prohibit tobacco, alcohol, gambling and indecent advertisements. City Councilman Francisco Alonso said opposition will fade when people become aware of the exclusions.

“Nobody wants a billboard in the middle of town, but these are on land with no other use near the freeways,” Alonso said.

In Montebello, meanwhile, the City Council passed a law banning new billboards earlier this year, and now officials say they are not about to let such eyesores go up in their neighboring city. Also, they say, by erecting billboards on the contaminated landfill, people could be exposed to hazardous waste.

Federal officials are also concerned about the impact on the landfill, said Harrison Karr an attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Consultant Robert Katherman, who represents Regency, said the company is already responding to Montebello’s fears by preparing environmental information on the proposed billboard sites.