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Posted on 03/26/2007 7:31:23 AM PDT by SmithL
A Lafayette resident, banking on the widespread attention the hillside of crosses has claimed, is seeking property owners along Highway 24 willing to display signs on their land.
Lafayette Outdoor targets parcels within 500 yards of the highway, said Tom Skenzel, who is heading the venture. Messages on the signs could range from commercial advertising to political statements.
The venture would allow landowners to profit from the noise, pollution and congestion of the highway, he said. Advertisers would pay a fee to create and maintain the billboard, with the landowner receiving some revenue.
"It could be a lucrative offer for the landowner," said Skenzel, who has experience in marketing.
But how many can signs go up on private land -- and how large those signs can be -- could soon change.
City officials want to revise the sign policy to close recently-identified loopholes in a law that's intended to eliminate clutter and traffic distractions, said Niroop Srivatsa, city planning manager.
Under a proposal before the City Council today, no more than four signs would be allowed on one residential parcel. There is no limit under the existing law.
The combined square footage of all signs on one parcel would be no more than 30 square feet.
The changes would make it impossible for someone to post a dozen signs in their yard or to create another display of crosses.
The 5-month-old hillside of about 3,100 crosses on Deer Hill Road, visible from Highway 24 and the BART platform, ignited an instant emotional debate on how to honor U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Loved by some and hated by others, it has brought widespread attention to this normally quiet suburb and has become a symbol of divided views on the war.
Cross supporters are reviewing the proposal and had no immediate comments Friday.
The proposed sign policy would let people on a street create a sequential display with signs in their yards.
"My personal view is that that would be an acceptable form of free speech, unlike the case in which one single residential parcel is allowed a display that overwhelms the neighborhood to the detriment of other parcel owners in the area," said Maeve Pessis, president of the Lafayette Homeowners Council.
The sign law was heavily scrutinized in November after a city planner said the sign at the crosses was at least 10 times larger than what's allowed and told organizers to shrink it to 4 square feet. The sign carries a tally of fallen troops.
Cross supporters questioned whether the city applied the law equally and pointed to signs of various sizes.
Organizers and the city reached an agreement in February in which the sign was reduced to 32 square feet. Officials said they cannot legally regulate a sign's content so they allowed the one at the crosses to be the same size as a Realtor's sign.
The existing sign law has different size restrictions for different signs, ranging from 4 square feet for memorials to 32 square feet for a Realtor's sign. The proposed revised policy would erase the distinction among signs.
If approved, the revised law would apply to new signs. The crosses would not be affected because they are already up.
Even if the policy changes, it would not hamper Lafayette Outdoor's goal, Skenzel said.
"If the ordinance was changed so property owners could only have one sign, it doesn't diminish the opportunity," Skenzel said. "Many, many property owners might be interested in having one billboard on their property."
Skenzel is distributing fliers. He has not been contacted by landowners or advertisers yet, he said.
Lynn Hiden, who has pushed for tougher hillside protection laws, is wary of the idea.
"I would hate to see Lafayette's lovely hill slopes turned into billboards for every partisan's favorite whim," she said. "I should hope that the updated sign ordinance will prevent these travesties."
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Assuming for a second that this sort of restriction is legally ok, what kind of moron would think of a "per parcel" basis for the regulation as opposed to the actual size of the parcel? Why would it be ok for a guy with 20 feet of frontage to have up 4 signs, but not ok for a guy with 2000 feet of frontage to have up 5?
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