YORBA LINDA : City OKs Polly’s Pies’ Sign, Rejects Bank’s

Polly’s Pies Restaurant can keep its sign advertising the pie special of the day, but World Savings Bank won’t be allowed to build a free-standing sign in front of its Lakeview location, the City Council decided Tuesday night.

The council turned down World Savings’ appeal of a Planning Commission decision that the bank was not entitled to a free-standing sign because it is next to a shopping center. City codes restrict shopping centers to one free-standing sign. Officials determined that even though the bank owned its parcel, it was essentially part of the Lakeview Shopping Center, which already has a free-standing sign.

Motorists “have trouble finding this branch because it doesn’t have a sign,” bank spokesman Ray West said. “The branch is missed by many people, particularly older people who are our bread-and-butter customers.”

The council rejected World Savings’ request because several members felt it would lead to a proliferation of signs at other businesses. However, at the request of Polly’s Pies, the council later voted to ease the city’s sign code to allow small hanging signs and “sandwich board” signs.

According to Heather Prewitt, community relations liaison for Polly’s Pies, sale of pies at the restaurant dropped by about 400 per week when the restaurant was ordered last March to take down a two-by-four-foot sign advertising the pie of the month.