CALABASAS : Planners Allow Sign by Freeway to Stand

The Calabasas Planning Commission has rescinded its order that Red Robin Restaurant take down its freeway sign within 90 days, averting--at least for now--the spread of the freeway sign war currently being waged in nearby Agoura Hills.

The commission, in a unanimous vote, agreed to wait until Calabasas adopts its first-ever General Plan, which city officials say is about a year away from adoption.

“I think we’ve really cut the baby in half on this one,” Planning Commissioner Dave Brown said of last week’s vote.

In Agoura Hills, a dozen businesses have banded together to sue the city to win the right to keep their freeway signs, which were outlawed in 1985. The businesses were to have removed their signs by March, 1992, but have refused.

The city of Agoura Hills has vowed to fight the lawsuit all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court if need be.

Freeway sign owners say they need them to attract business from the freeway and that business would drop off at least 30% if the signs came down. City officials in both communities say they are just trying to protect the scenic beauty of their cities, not harass business owners.

Agoura Hills has banned freeway signs altogether, while Calabasas restricts their height.

Red Robin and a Mobil service station next door are said to compose the test case for Calabasas. About 11 other businesses have freeway signs that exceed the 42-foot height limit, city officials said.

Earl Soller, owner of Red Robin Restaurant, said he was satisfied with the Planning Commission’s vote.

“It took about a year to get an answer from them, but the answer I finally received was the correct one,” he said. “The final compromise they came to is a good, common-sense conclusion.”

Soller applied last spring for permission to fix the 75-foot sign, which was damaged in the Northridge earthquake. In response, the city notified him that his sign had been nonconforming since 1977, when the county set the 42-foot height limit for freeway signs. The city adopted the county ordinance when it incorporated in 1991.

Planning commissioners have indicated that they would not compromise on the freeway sign issue, but the commission softened its stance, Brown said, because “we got from this businessman . . . a recognition that the sign was nonconforming. . . . He agreed to take it down when the city adopted the General Plan, and I thought that was a good compromise.”

Soller had argued that under the California Business and Professions Code, he had 15 years, beginning this year, to take down the sign. The city maintained that that 15-year period has expired, because the sign has been in violation of the county sign law since 1977.

Calabasas, according to Steve Quintanilla, an attorney for the city, was willing to compromise because the signs do not pose a threat to public health or safety, or property values.

The Mobil station owner, John Barkhordar, has indicated that he will appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council. But city officials have hinted that they may be willing to offer Barkhordar the same deal as Soller.

Will the city, meanwhile, order the other nonconforming signs taken down?

“We have not at this point decided to take on all of them, until we have a clear picture of what our pole sign policy is going to be,” Brown said.