Arts Plaza Panel Wants Sign Facing 101 Freeway

Hoping to draw more attention to the Civic Arts Plaza, the performing arts center’s administrative board is asking the Thousand Oaks City Council to consider allowing a large electronic marquee next to the Ventura Freeway.

But some city officials have already expressed reservations about the plan. One council member said it “smacks of double standards,” since it goes against the city’s regulations.

In addition to advertising the top acts at the Charles E. Probst Center for the Performing Arts, the 40-foot-wide sign, which would be just east of the Civic Arts Plaza, could rotate the names of three sponsors on a small revolving billboard.

The City Council will consider on Tuesday the concept of allowing such a marquee. If council members approve the idea, suggested by the Civic Arts Plaza’s board of governors, it will go to the Planning Commission for more detailed consideration.

“It would be a sign to advertise the Civic Arts Plaza, but it may contain the name of a sponsor,” said Virginia Davis, chairwoman of the complex’s board of governors, which unanimously approved the idea last month. “It would just be a way to get more exposure for the Civic Arts Plaza.”

Under the proposal, sponsors would pay the marquee’s $467,000 cost and would each share minutes on the billboard, which would show one of their names at a time, said Thousand Oaks architect Francisco Behr, who volunteered to design the sign at no cost. The billboard section of the sign would be about 3 feet high and 24 feet long, he said.

The plan also includes erecting large letters on the $64-million building itself, identifying it as the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza for the estimated 150,000 drivers who pass by the city hall and performing arts center every day, according to a city report.

The lettering would be on the south side of the Civic Arts Plaza, and on the east end above the much-disputed copper curtain, Behr said. He stressed that the marquee design is still subject to a lot of change, and would be nothing like the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall sign, which caused near-rioting among Thousand Oaks homeowners’ associations.

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Nevertheless, Behr said, he is prepared for some criticism about the proposed 14-foot-high electronic attention-getter, which would clearly violate Thousand Oaks’ freeway sign restrictions and development codes.

“I know some people are going to go crazy about this,” he said. “But the Civic Arts Plaza needs a marquee on the freeway. The reason I did this for free is because I didn’t want to see something crummy there.”

Mayor Andy Fox said he thinks the portion of the Civic Arts Plaza that faces the freeway needs a major overhaul. Placing a marquee near the building and actually identifying what it is for freeway commuters may be a good start, he said.

“The appearance of the Civic Arts Plaza from the freeway is not good,” he said. “It needs to be addressed. The copper curtain is there, but it has not done a good job.

“People don’t know what the building is, and we need to let people know that is our government center as well as our performing arts center.”

Although he knows that considering a large freeway sign in Thousand Oaks may stir up an epic controversy, Fox said the idea is worth studying.

“There’s going to be people opposed to it, no question about it,” he said. “Anything that involves the Civic Arts Plaza is controversial. But the reality is, the building is here. And we need to improve on it.”

Fox stressed that he would never support using taxpayers’ money to pay for any part of the sign, so he understands the need for sponsors. But he said he is concerned about the way sponsors’ names may be displayed on the marquee.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said she had no doubts that the marquee would be good-looking. But she argued that even approving the concept of such a freeway sign--something the City Council would never let a private developer build--exposes Thousand Oaks to accusations that the city considers itself exempt from its own regulations.

“It smacks of double standards, putting ourselves above others,” Zeanah said. “We’re supposed to set the standards, not break them.”

If the City Council approves the freeway sign concept, she argued, how will it be able to justify turning down other such proposals in the future?

“This government, with the Civic Arts Plaza, is leading the campaign to destroy the environmental and development standards Thousand Oaks has become known for,” she said. “That concerns me. We’re going to turn into another Van Nuys at this rate.”

Councilman Mike Markey said he strongly believes that the Civic Arts Plaza needs some kind of marquee and lettering facing the freeway.

“A lot of people pass through that area without even knowing the theaters are there, or what they’re [putting on],” he said. “We need to do something about that.”

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But he said that he would want to see what the sponsors’ names would look like before he could even conceptually approve the plan.

Julian McDonald, a member of the board of governors, said that Thousand Oaks is missing a brilliant opportunity to promote the center’s two theaters and the Civic Arts Plaza.

“It is such a visible building along the 101 Freeway,” he said. “But a lot of people don’t even know what it is. We need a way to advertise what events we have at the center, and let people know what they’re passing by.”