City OKs Billboard Switch in Theory, Wants New Terms

POMONA — A sharply divided City Council has accepted in principle an offer from a company to tear down about half the existing billboards in Pomona in exchange for the right to erect 10 bigger signs along area freeways.

But the city wants Regency Outdoor Advertising Co., which offered the deal, to pay higher fees than the firm proposed and take down the freeway signs after a limited number of years. The council will meet in closed session, probably Monday, to instruct its staff on terms to be negotiated with the billboard company.

J. Keith Stephens, Regency project manager, said he is encouraged by the council’s action, although it remains to be seen whether a deal can be structured that is financially feasible to his company and acceptable to the city.

The council action infuriated billboard opponents, some of whom have been fighting the issue for 30 years. One, Bob Jackson, said he may run for mayor in March on an anti-billboard platform. At the very least, he said, billboards will be a major issue in the mayoral and councilmanic elections. Jackson said the council should have submitted the issue to voters as favored by Mayor Donna Smith and council members Boyd Bredenkamp and Paula Lantz.

Lantz urged the council to put a billboard measure on the March ballot, arguing that only a vote of the people will put the issue to rest.

But the council, in a 4-3 vote, rejected the idea. Councilman Tomas Ursua said billboards are not among the top problems facing the city, so there is little reason to submit the matter to voters.

Councilman Willie White said he wished that the city would devote as much attention to crime and homelessness as it does to billboards.

“I’ve never seen a billboard shoot a person,” he said.

Councilwoman Nell Soto said the city is being offered a good deal, a chance to get rid of unsightly billboards in the heart of Pomona in exchange for newer signs on the outskirts. She said the proposal should be viewed as “the removal of blight from the middle of town.”

But Lantz argued that the plan would just relocate the problem. “You’re removing the eyesores from downtown and putting them at the freeway entrances,” she said.

Lantz said the city can eliminate billboards by simply setting a deadline for their removal that gives the companies enough time to amortize their investment, perhaps three to five years.

The controversy dates to the 1960s, when many residents, alarmed by the proliferation of billboards, urged the City Council to impose tough restrictions. The council in 1964 adopted an ordinance banning the signs outside industrial zones and giving ad firms two years to remove them.

The removal period was subsequently lengthened, the issue went to court and became the subject of a referendum. But Pomona has more than 50 billboards, many of them outside the permitted industrial zones, and the sign companies have refused to remove them without compensation.

Two years ago, Regency proposed a solution: It would acquire rights to 27 billboards and tear them down. But the price would be an agreement with the city that would allow it to build 10 large, double-sided signs along the Pomona and Orange freeways and the Corona Expressway.

The proposal bounced between the council and Planning Commission without gaining the required support--until this week. Ursua, White, Soto and Ken West formed the council majority that voted for an ordinance to facilitate the Regency proposal and then voted for the city to negotiate a revised agreement.

Regency’s proposal calls for payment to the city of $5,000 for each sign, a $500 annual business license fee and a $250 fee every time the ad changes. Fees would be raised 25% in 10 years. The agreement would run for 20 years.

Bredenkamp said it is impossible to judge whether the proposed fee schedule is fair because the city has no idea how much money Regency will make on the ads.

Ursua said the fees should be negotiated. But of more concern is how long the new signs would stand. Ideally it would be 10 years, he said. But Stephens said his company needs a longer agreement. The length of time and the fees will be the key issues in negotiations.

Before the council voted, it heard from several business owners who supported Regency’s request and said they are anxious to boost their businesses in Pomona by using the freeway signs. The council also heard from residents who called billboards eyesores and urged rejection.

Rick Todd, whose mother was one of the original leaders of the anti-billboard forces, told the council that nobody wants the signs in their back yard. “Look at the progressive cities,” he said. “The beautiful cities will not have billboards in their area.”

Opponents recently sent a mailer to 1,300 homes in the Phillips Ranch area, represented by West, to try to put public pressure on him to vote against the plan. The mailer was headlined “Ken West Betrays Phillips Ranch.” West, who faces reelection in March if he wants another term, denounced the effort, which he said was aimed at discrediting his vote.

Regency responded with a mailer of its own, pointing out that no signs are planned in Phillips Ranch.

Billboard opponents said they intend to monitor whether West takes campaign contributions from sign companies.