HUNTINGTON BEACH : Car Dealers Push for Change in Sign Law

It may soon be legal for the car dealerships along Beach Boulevard to display colorful helium balloons.

The City Council, responding to car dealers’ requests, is scheduled Monday night to consider changes in sign ordinances that would allow the dealers to use balloons, flags, banners and other attention-grabbing devices.

Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach rivals Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa as a showcase for car dealerships. The automobile sales business is a chief tax producer for the city, and Huntington Beach city officials have said they are sympathetic to the dealers’ request to ease restrictions against outdoor balloons and other such eye-catching advertising.

“Each year the city receives approximately $2.7 million of sales-tax revenue from the dealers,” said Michael Adams, director of community development, in a memo prepared for the council. He added that the city is working on other “long-term permanent solutions which will enable the automobile dealers to be competitive with dealers in other cities.”

The city law does not now permit use of outdoor balloons. The proposed change would allow the dealerships on Beach Boulevard to fly 18-inch helium balloons every weekend and larger inflatable items for a maximum of 12 weekends per year. Flags, banners and car-top signs would also be permitted.

Adams, in his memo, said that the dealers believe attention-grabbing devices are important in their highly competitive business.

“According to the Huntington Beach Automobile Dealers Assn.,” Adams memo says, “70% of their sales come from the ‘impulse buyer.’ Balloons, flags, pennants, banners and car-top signs are important advertising and attention-getting devices used by the automobile dealers to generate walk-in traffic.”