MOORPARK : Workshops Planned on Sign Ordinance

The Moorpark Planning Commission will hold two workshops to solicit public comment on how to draft a new sign ordinance that will be acceptable to both residents and merchants.

The commission, which held one such workshop last month, has scheduled follow-up sessions for 7 p.m. Dec. 8 and 15 at City Hall to gather more comments.

“We’re basically making policy for the rest of the retail industry out there,” Planning Commissioner Steve Brodsky said. “So we felt it best to go ahead and include them, to get as many ideas and philosophy as we can.”

A new sign ordinance is needed because of inconsistencies between the existing ordinance and some provisions of city code. The conflict has forced the city to review sign applications on a case-by-case basis instead of judging all requests by a universal set of guidelines.

Among the issues to be addressed by a new ordinance are whether to allow business logos on signs and how large logos should be, maximum sign heights, compatibility of signs and nearby structures and how signs should be lit.

“If you’re a retailer, of course you want the biggest, tallest, brightest, most obtrusive sign you can get to tell people you’re there,” Brodsky said. “But the problem is, if you’re allowed to do it, so is everybody else, and do you want to look at that until whenever?”

The commission has already decided to develop a second set of guidelines for the city’s historic downtown area.

Anyone interested in reviewing the existing sign guidelines or filling out a questionnaire on possible changes should contact Associate Planner Kathleen Mallory-Phipps at 529-6864.