Official Targets Billboard Blight

Standing at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road, Assistant City Manager Ken Pulskamp looks around and doesn’t like what he sees.

What he sees are signs, everywhere. Billboards, posters, placards, mini-mall signs crowded with the names of multiple businesses, signs advertising hamburgers, auto repairs, dental work and yard sales.

“If I asked you to count all the signs you saw right here, you’d still be here a half an hour from now,” Pulskamp said.

After Santa Clarita was incorporated in 1987, the City Council moved to ban new billboards and passed other laws regulating signage. However, at least a dozen billboards remain from the time when the area was governed by Los Angeles County.

Now, to help the city advance its war on unsightly signage, Pulskamp and his colleagues in the city manager’s office have come up with a novel idea. They have suggested that the city consider purchasing several large billboards around town with the ultimate goal of tearing them down.

Under the plan, the city would lease the signs until it recovers its purchase price, then take them down. So far, only one billboard is being considered. If the program is successful, however, more could follow.

“They’re ugly,” Pulskamp said. “The city looks better without a lot of billboards cluttering up what many of us feel is a beautiful valley.”

Pulskamp said the idea for the city to purchase the billboard arose during a discussion with the owner of a large sign on Sierra Highway. Based on his initial reviews of the cost of the billboard--around $100,000--and advertising rates, Pulskamp said he estimates it would take six to eight years for the city to recoup its investment.

“The city has for a long time been interested in taking down billboards,” Pulskamp said. “This is a way to do that without costing the taxpayers any money.”

The City Council has yet to sign off on the billboard purchase, but last week it indicated its willingness to consider the idea by unanimously approving $3,500 for an appraisal. Once the appraisal has been completed, the city manager’s office will prepare a report for the council’s consideration.

Already, though, council members have expressed conflicting views on the proposal’s merits.

“I’m not in favor of leasing it out,” said Mayor Jan Heidt. “I’d rather we just purchase it and tear it down.

“These billboards are visual pollution and I just don’t see any other way of getting rid of them.”

Heidt, who advocates creating a fund to pay for the purchase and removal of large billboards, said the city could put itself in an awkward position by going into the advertising business.

“We’ve already had complaints about certain billboards that were risque,” Heidt said. “If we can’t control what’s being advertised on it, we could get into hot water with our citizens.”

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Unlike Heidt, who said that eight years was too long to wait for a billboard’s removal, Councilman Frank Ferry said he thought the time frame was reasonable.

“I like the idea because the city is acting like a responsible business,” Ferry said. “I think if you are looking long term, it’s a viable option.”

Ferry said that money used for removing billboards would be better spent funding youth sports leagues and other programs.

Whether the billboards were leased or not, Canyon Country resident Michele Williams said she didn’t like the idea.

“To be honest, I think it’s stupid. They should be focusing on more important issues like traffic and gangs,” Williams said. “Once everything else is taken care of, then they can deal with the signs.”

But Louie Jimenez of Santa Clarita agreed with the council members that excess signage had become an eyesore.

“I think it would be a good idea if they were able to get the money back,” Jimenez said. “Otherwise, pretty soon it will be like the San Fernando Valley, where there are billboards everywhere.”

Just about any way of removing signs and improving the looks of the city would be fine with Pulskamp, who would like Santa Clarita to be a regional destination.

“The places that people really want to go, like Monterey, San Clemente and Santa Barbara, they all have sign ordinances in effect,” he said. “It just makes the city have a nicer feel to it.”