CALABASAS : 2 Businesses Seek to Keep Freeway Signs

Two Calabasas business people ordered by the Planning Commission to remove nonconforming freeway signs say they will ask the City Council to overturn the order.

“I will appeal the case to the City Council and see what happens,” said John Barkhordar, owner of Calabasas Mobil on Calabasas Road. “We have to work it out somehow.”

His remarks Friday were echoed by Scott Soller, general manager of Red Robin Restaurant, next door to Barkhordar’s station.

The Mobil station, which has a 100-foot sign, and Red Robin, with a 60-foot sign, have been given 90 days to take down the signs.

City officials say both signs, which were installed about 20 years ago, have been non-complying since 1977, when the county adopted an ordinance setting a 42-foot height limit.

Barkhordar and Soller argue they need the signs to attract business from the freeway and that under the state’s business and professions code, they should be given 15 years to remove the signs.

“I can’t see how this is not going to (adversely) affect business,” Soller said. “We’ve already spent $1,300 on permits. It’s getting a little ridiculous.”

Barkhordar said he recently put up a temporary 42-foot sign to see if it would be visible from the freeway. He said it was not and that he plans to apply for a special permit to install a 60-foot sign to replace the 100-foot sign.

City officials say the sign ordinance is designed to protect the scenic beauty of the city, not harass business owners.

“We’ve got to establish that there is a city here and there are rules,” said Planning Commissioner Dave Brown in a recent interview.

In Agoura Hills, 12 businesses sued the city for the right to keep their freeway signs, which were outlawed in 1985. A hearing has been set on the matter for Feb. 15 in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Calabasas Mayor Karyn Foley said she hopes the situation can be resolved amicably.

“But what concerns me is that we have no alternatives to offer businesses, such as logo signs,” she said. “It would be my personal preference to spend the time and effort to push legislation to allow logo signs. I feel the business owners would then be happy to comply.”

There was a measure before the Legislature earlier this year that would have permitted business logo signs along freeways, but the measure was defeated, some say through the efforts of freeway sign owners.