In a moment of triumph for City Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells and her anti-billboard campaign, plans for an economic makeover of a south Culver City neighborhood – briefly in doubt — will proceed, but without a signage component.
Midnight was nearing at Monday night’s City Council meeting when Vice Mayor Andy Weissman made a unanimously approved motion directing city staff to pursue creation of a land use plan for the so-called Entertainment and Hospitality District.
The notion of signage scrolled large on the sides of tall buildings appears likely, however, to continue to be debated.
The anti-billboard forces, led by Ms. Sahli-Wells, surely will see this as a victory.
Across the table, however, Mr. Weissman judged the decision “a pragmatic outcome.”
He said that “signs never were a primary element of the visioning process for the Council.
“Revitalization and economic development were.
“Removing the issue of signs from the discussion defused what some in the community were making the focus of all the attention.
“This,” said the vice mayor, “allowed the Council to concentrate on the process going forward and provide direction to the staff.”
While Mr. Weissman has been outspoken on the economic aspects of upgrading a loosely bounded southerly neighborhood, calling the signage talk irrelevant, it isn’t clear that billboard protests will go away.
“When they took out signage (from the makeover plan),” said Steve Rose, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, “that was not the critical issue.
“Signage was one of the ways to pay for public infrastructure.”
Elaborating, Mr. Rose said “What funding mechanism is there for building sidewalks and parks?
“The critical part is the process that the Council set up to go forward, a land use plan. The process would have been much better if the Council had gone ahead with a specific plan.
“Now, instead of being able to say ‘Let’s put an ice rink, a hotel and a condo here,’ additional steps will have to be taken,” such as holding a series of consultation meetings with the community.
“A specific plan would have told a proposed developer ‘this is what you are allowed to build here,’” said Mr. Rose. “It would have avoided a couple of steps.”
