Galpin Motors Proposes Sign 108 Feet Tall
Galpin Motors has tentatively proposed a 108-foot-tall electronic marquee sign next to its collection of dealerships along the San Diego Freeway in North Hills.
Bert Boeckmann, Galpin’s politically powerful owner, said the sign is part of an $18-million expansion that would add at least two buildings and a fifth dealership, plus increase employment from 750 to 950.
Many officials applauded the proposed expansion as a boon to the San Fernando Valley, but some neighbors were not so happy about the mammoth full-color sign.
Pole signs in commercial zones are generally limited to 42 feet in height, so Galpin Motors has applied for a zone change and ordinance that would allow a taller sign.
“Anything over 30 feet we consider excessively high,” said Gordon Murley, president of the San Fernando Federation, a coalition of 18 homeowner groups in the Valley. “We don’t need any more distractions on the freeway.”
Murley said the city should consider whether such a tall sign just east of Van Nuys Airport would pose a problem for aviation.
The city has not raised that issue so far, said Clare Bronowski, an attorney for Boeckmann.
City Planner Robert Sutton said it was unclear whether the sign is close enough to the airport to also require Federal Aviation Administration approval, and airport officials could not be reached for comment.
“We do not have a strong identifying sign for Galpin today,” Boeckmann said. “It’s really quite a beautiful sign that we have proposed.”
Boeckmann said the design and scope of the proposed new sign is still not final, but the concept would provide an electronic marquee that would change messages every few seconds to advertise each of the five dealerships that will be operating off the Roscoe Boulevard freeway exit.
Half of the pole would be below the elevated freeway, and the additional height would be needed to provide good visibility to motorists, Bronowski said. It would replace an existing 50-foot-tall sign.
Boeckmann noted that the sign would be dwarfed by others built last year for the downtown Staples Center. Those electronic marquee signs are 135 and 143 feet tall.
City Council members said they will scrutinize the proposal.
“Knowing Galpin Motors is a significant employer in my district, I would seriously consider it,” Councilman Alex Padilla said. “But I would also want to make sure it’s consistent with what is in the best interest of the community.”
While most of Galpin Motors is in Padilla’s district, the sign would be erected south of Roscoe between Orion Avenue and the San Diego Freeway, a site located in the district of Councilman Joel Wachs.
Dale Thrush, a planning deputy for Wachs, said he was “not encouraging” about the sign when he met with Boeckmann’s attorney. But he said Wachs will wait to see a formal proposal before taking a position.
“We don’t want to prejudge the matter and we will wait to see the actual proposal before we take a position,” Wachs said.
Boeckmann is an appointee of Mayor Richard Riordan to the Los Angeles Police Commission and has been a major campaign contributor to the mayor’s charter reform effort as well as a financial backer of efforts to create a Valley city.
The city Ethics Commission reported in 1998 that Galpin Motors was among the top 20 sources of political contributions to city officials in the previous two elections. Boeckmann, his employees and his firm gave more than $40,000.
That clout almost guarantees that the sign will win approval, Murley said.
“It would be very unusual if it wasn’t a slam-dunk,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean people won’t speak out against it.”
Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., said he has no objection to the proposal.
“I’m not really concerned about it, if it’s adjacent to the freeway,” he said. “That’s where you want it if you want exposure.”
