WESTMINSTER : Hearing Continued on Oversize Sign

The City Council has continued a public hearing held last week on whether the city should revoke permission for a company to build a sign that residents say would be an eyesore.

The council heard residents’ arguments to revoke the permit, which was granted a year ago, but continued the meeting because officials for the company proposing the sign had notified the city that they would be unable to attend the meeting.

At the hearing last Tuesday, several residents assailed the proposal and also criticized the council for granting Carson-based Metropolitan Outdoor Advertising a variance for the 50-foot-tall sign, at 14022 Springdale Ave. They pointed out that the Planning Commission had unanimously opposed the plan because members said that the 672-square-foot billboard would be more than twice the size city code allows and that approving it would amount to an unreasonable privilege.

Although no one challenged the sign proposal at the original public hearing in February, 1991, residents complained last Tuesday that they would have spoken against the proposal then but were not notified of the proposal. The staff said that before the hearing last year, the city sent notices to all residents within 500 feet of the proposed sign’s site, although the law requires notice to residents within 300 feet.

The City Council will reopen the public hearing Feb. 25.