Council will give another look to sign proposal

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The City Council this week unanimously voted to hold an

public forum on proposed changes to the city’s sign ordinance before it

votes on them.

The changes would prohibit new signs with animated or moving messages,

require street addresses to be posted on free-standing signs or on the

building, limit the number of signs allowed on the business and prohibit

permanent banners.

Proponents of the changes say they will help clean up the city while

opponents say the ordinance will place unfair restrictions on how

businesses use banners.

Councilman Gary Monahan said the ordinance would hurt small businesses

in the city.

“Who does this hurt? Not the big guys,” he said. “It hurts the Grant

Boys, it hurts the Ticket Shack, it hurts places like mine. These are

places that can’t afford a lot of advertising. This has always been a

community of small businesses . . . This is going to affect all the small

mom and pop stores, the ones we’re talking about on 17th Street.”

In a letter to the city, Gilbert Collins, a Halecrest/Hall of Fame

Homeowners Assn. board member, wrote that he is in favor of the

revisions.

“I thoroughly approve of the entire comprehensive document [the

Proposed City Sign Ordinance Revisions,]” the letter states, adding that

it is “encouraging to know that our city government is genuinely

interested in promoting its shared goals.”

A number of businesses are opposed to the proposed changes to the sign

ordinance, originally adopted in 1974 and last revised in 1995 after a

two-year process involving the council, Planning Commission, city staff

and a review committee.

The owners of the Grant Boys, a Costa Mesa store on Newport Boulevard,

has put up banners and handed out fliers to passersby to encourage them

to question the consequences of the modified ordinance.

Randy Gerall of the Grant Boys said he does not object to most of the

proposed restrictions but has a problem with a clause in the modified

ordinance that states that banners can be put up only in special cases,

such as a “grand opening, special sales or similar events.”

Gerall said his business will lose money because he will have to go in

for print advertising if he is not permitted to use banners, and that

will cost him money that, he said, will force him to lay off employees.

Lawana Wright, a Grant Boys employee for five years, said she thinks

the store’s banners are helpful and informative.

“We already know there would be detrimental effects if this is

passed,” she said. “The business we get from print advertising in a month

would not make up what we get from banners in a day.”

Ken Oberlin, owner of the Ticket Shack, said that window signs are

essential to his business.

“I get 80% of my business from people who see those signs,” he said.

“I can’t put my merchandise on display like the Gap can. It’s the only

way to let people know what I’m selling ... It’s like theater marquees.

They can put what movies they are playing, so why can’t I put what

concerts I’m selling?”

Allan Mansoor, a Costa Mesa resident who spoke in favor of the

revisions, said that he thinks the difference is that marquees are

classier than windows covered with signs.

“I think banners should be limited in time,” he said.

Eleanor Egan, another Costa Mesa resident and a co-president of the

Westside Improvement Assn., said she thinks the decision requires careful

consideration.

“Whatever decision you make, you are making an aesthetic decision,”

she said to the council. “We need to have a comprehensive look at what we

want the city to look like.”

No date has been set yet for the hearing on the proposal.