A Welcome Sign of Restraint

Future space shuttle astronauts won’t have to steer around competing signs for the Oxnard and Ventura auto malls, thanks to a welcome display of restraint by the Oxnard Planning Commission.

Commissioners said no to the Oxnard Auto Center Assn.’s request for permission to build an 87-foot-tall sign beside the Ventura Freeway at Rose Avenue. Instead the commission endorsed a somewhat smaller design--thereby heading off a potential sign-building race to the stars with neighboring Ventura.

About 10 years ago, the motor merchants of Oxnard erected a 45-foot-tall sign to lure potential customers off the freeway. The vehicle vendors of Ventura struck back with a 65-foot-tall sign of their own. And so the Oxnard crew dreamed up an even bigger sign--an 87-foot-tall extravaganza with a $1-million high-tech display and giant television screen.

Residents of the adjacent Rio Lindo area neighborhood protested that the brightly lit tower would overwhelm their neighborhood.

To their credit, the planning commissioners listened. They rejected the proposed 87-footer with 900 square feet of sign space but recommended that the City Council approve a 65-foot tower with 672 square feet of sign. The auto center countered with 74 feet and 825 square feet. The council will take up the issue Tuesday.

One reason the Oxnard Auto Center wants to super-size its current four-story sign is the fact that the new freeway overpass at Rose Avenue is 15 feet higher than its predecessor, which has reduced drivers’ view. The city, grateful for the sales tax income it collects on every car sale, is understandably eager to keep the auto dealers happy. We believe that can be done with a sign that equals the height of Ventura’s but doesn’t up the ante by 27 feet.

Considering the lively history of mutually disadvantageous competition between the two neighbor cities, we predict that if Oxnard approved an 87-footer Ventura would be virtually certain to build a 120-footer, leaving Oxnard no choice but to . . . .

Enough, already.