Nissan leases vehicles to guards

Nissan couldn’t ask for a more appropriate place to showcase its new

line of sport utility vehicles and trucks than the sunny beaches of

Surf City.

Labor Day weekend, Nissan rolled out the final installment of a

special deal with city lifeguards to provide 17 vehicles for patrol

along the city’s 3.5 miles of beach front in exchange for a little

unusual free advertising. Lifeguards get cool new rigs to carry their

surfboards and rescue gear, and Nissan gets powerful in-place

advertising of its SUV and truck brand, marketed as a vehicle for

active lifestyles.

“It’s a natural for us to want to get our vehicle into a natural

environment that will have the most impact,” Nissan Marketing Manager

Mike Grollman said.

Nissan will also be allowed to affix several lifeguard towers and

volleyball nets with their image, but Grollman said the logos will be

kept to a minimum.

“There’s already enough advertisements, people don’t need to look

at them while they’re on the beach,” he said.

The sponsorship comes at a crucial time for Huntington Beach

lifeguards, after Chevrolet pulled out of a similar sponsorship deal

it had with several Southern California communities. City officials

are reported to have approached Nissan, which sponsors lifeguards in

Los Angeles county.

The 17 vehicles have been outfitted for beach support along the

waterline. The Nissan beach fleet includes one Armada and four

Xterras, both sport-utility vehicles, as well as seven Frontier

pick-up trucks. In addition, five full-size Titan pick-up trucks have

also been added to the fleet.

Nissan’s partnership will run through 2006.

Building ban loses punch

A proposed ban on through-lot expansions is finally making its way

out of the Planning Commission, sans the restrictions several

homeowners were asking for.

Huntington Harbour residents were asking the commission to pass an

ordinance banning some hillside homeowners from expanding their

backyards into the rear slope of their property. The expansions were

against the original character of their neighborhoods, the residents

argued. Hillside homeowners called the law restrictive, arguing it

prevented them from exercising their full property rights.

The Planning Department was also against the ban, Senior Planner

Paul Da Viega said.

“The staff was recommending that there be no change to the current

ordinance,” he said.

The Planning Commission made two changes to the proposed law,

making it much less restrictive than what residents asked for. The

commission approved changes to the definitions of primary and

secondary frontages and expanded the notification area for the

conditional use permit process from a 300-foot radius to 1,000 feet.

The ordinance will now go before the City Council for approval.