Sign ordinance drawing fire before meeting

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- The City Council is expected to consider approving

changes to an existing sign ordinance tonight that business owners say

will place more restrictions on how they use banners.

The Grant Boys, a Costa Mesa store on Newport Boulevard, has been

putting up banners and handing out fliers to passers by to encourage them

to question the consequences of the modified ordinance.

The proposed changes prohibit new signs with animated or moving

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

on the building and limit the number of signs allowed on the business.

Randy Gerall of The Grant Boys says he does not object to all those

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 says 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 says will only come from laying off employees.

The recommendation for the change came from the Planning Commission

earlier this year, said City Manager Allan Roeder.

He said it was prompted by calls and complaints from residents about

electronic signs that were mushrooming in the community. However, he said

he did not know if residents called City Hall about banners.

“Usually businesses put up banners in lieu of a permanent sign,” he

said. “But some businesses -- not all -- let them stay up for a long time

till they become ragged and torn, and they are not an asset to the

business or the community.”

Roeder said the banner issue that will come up tonight is a “question

of policy” for the City Council -- whether they want to allow the

permanent use of banners or permit them only on special occasions.

The Grant Boys featured a sign on its roof over the weekend that read:

“City Council -- Small business needs the use of banners -- don’t

jeopardize our jobs.”

Gerall was part of a committee that revised an existing sign ordinance

in 1995 after a two-year process of reviewing it.

Councilman Gary Monahan said he will move tonight to continue the

issue to a later date so the review committee and local businesses will

get an opportunity to discuss it.

“I just don’t like the way it was handled,” said Monahan, who owns

Skosh Monahan’s restaurant in Costa Mesa. “We definitely need to get more

input from the community, get some voices on the issue.”