CAMARILLO : Council to Rethink Banner Restrictions

In response to a plea from a Camarillo veterinarian, the City Council has agreed to reconsider a provision in the city’s sign ordinance that restricts business-front banners, only months after concluding two years of negotiations on the ordinance.

Burton C. Roe, who owns a veterinary hospital on Las Posas Road, asked the council reconsider the provision after he received nearly $700 in tickets for hanging an orange plastic banner with black letters advertising discount weekend vaccinations.

Roe said he left the banner up after he received the first $135 ticket because the banner helped increase his weekend business by 50%. He said he considered the fine to be part of the cost of advertising.

But after he was slapped with a $540 ticket for a second offense, he removed the banner, he said.

Evie Bystrom-Herrera, executive director for the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, said she was pleased at the council’s decision. The chamber had argued during negotiations against restrictions on banners. As a compromise, the city agreed to allow signs in windows but maintained restrictions on banners.

“I’m glad to hear that they want to look at it again,” she said. “Having a banner out can be a real boon for individual retailers.”

She said hotel owners have told her they would like to put up banners from Friday to Sunday to catch freeway travelers.

“They felt that a banner made a difference, a significant difference,” she said.

Councilman Michael Morgan cautioned against a liberal banner policy, fearing that banners would show up all over the city.

“We’d look like parts of downtown Los Angeles, which I don’t think this city wants to look like,” Morgan said.

Morgan also scolded Roe for failing to follow the city ordinance, despite his philosophical disagreements.