Anaheim : Proposal for Freeway Billboards Resurfaces

A battle of the signs may be resumed in Anaheim today as city officials discuss whether to allow freeway billboards.

Rejected last year, the plan to allow what one official dubbed “a billboard jungle” was introduced this time by an attorney representing Regency Outdoor Advertising Inc. of Los Angeles. Council member Miriam Kaywood responded to the issue Monday, saying she is “shocked to see this issue come back again.”

After Kaywood and her colleagues rejected a plan in May, 1984, to allow billboards along freeways in the city, the councilwoman asked for an advisory vote from the community. Mayor Don Roth rejected the request because “the issue is dead.”

“The mayor had said this was positively not coming back and now it’s back,” Kaywood said Monday.

Roth said Monday that he had no comment on Kaywood’s criticism other than, “Next time, I’ll promise there won’t be any earthquakes either.” The mayor said that out of 233,000 people in the city, “three told me they were concerned about billboards.”

City officials meeting today also may hear comments from residents on the possibility of levying fees on developers for the construction of new freeways. City Clerk Lee Sohl said Monday that 12,000 residents were notified of the public hearing, scheduled to begin after 1:30 p.m.

The city officials also are scheduled to meet with the public utility board to consider distribution of approximately $11.3 million in customer refunds from California Edison Co.