THOUSAND OAKS : City to Vote on Gas, Food, Lodging Signs

After months of discussion, the Thousand Oaks City Council will finally vote Tuesday on a proposal to hang seven new signs directing motorists to gas, food and lodging.

Public Works Director John Clement has suggested hanging two signs on the southbound Moorpark Freeway, two on Janss Road, one on Moorpark Road, one on Rancho Conejo Boulevard and one on Ventu Park Road. All the signs would be installed at major intersections and would point drivers to hotels, gas stations or restaurants.

Clement’s report to the council contained no cost estimate. But he wrote that the seven signs would address the business community’s desire to attract new customers without cluttering the city’s streets. Councilman Frank Schillo, who had worried about creating “sign blight” with a plethora of directional placards, agreed.

“Certainly we’ve restricted the number of signs down so we have much better control,” Schillo said. “This now seems reasonable.”

Schillo said he’d prefer that the signs bear international symbols of food, gas and lodging--utensils to signify a restaurant, for example. As proposed, the signs would have words but no pictures. “We should be using international symbols because people expect some continuity among signs,” Schillo said.