by Dale Tyler

People living in Mission Viejo often overlook one of the unique features of our fine city. You won't find any garish neon signs. In fact, Mission Viejo has one of the toughest sign laws in the state. The goal is to make our city consistently beautiful without hurting businesses' need to attract customers.

Our sign ordinance, MV City Code, Section 9.29, while being strict, can be eased for short-term special events, like store grand openings, church events or even public street fairs. The Planning Commission and city staff work to help businesses understand our rules and help with exceptional short-term situations. In fact, our sign rules make doing business in Mission Viejo easier by not having a constantly escalating (and expensive) battle for the biggest or best signs. Business people should feel comfortable knowing there is a level playing field with respect to signage. Signs in Mission Viejo are restricted in size, location and type of construction. For example, when McDonald's came to town some years ago, they wanted to put up their trademark “Golden Arches.” However, this was not allowed under our sign code, and a smaller but more attractive design was permitted. That restaurant was successful for many years until competition forced its closure. There are many similar examples that serve to illustrate how having a strict sign law makes our city beautiful.

Of course, there are exceptions to this beauty, and this article is designed to highlight some of them. The first and most obvious is the garish, flashing signs at the entrances to Saddleback College. Since the college is technically a state institution, it refused to comply with our sign law. In fact, one of the Saddleback College administrators told a Mission Viejo Planning Commissioner, “We make our own rules here, and we will do what we like whether you approve or not.” Unfortunately, this arrogance resulted in two of the worst signs in Mission Viejo. Not only are the signs ugly, they are a distraction to motorists, which can cause accidents.

Another problem area is that of the eyesore at Crown Valley and the I-5, also known as the Kaleidescope. Over the years, many of the worst sign violators have been tenants in that facility. Of course, the occupancy rate of the Kaleidescope has been very poor over the years (costing the city $2 million, but that's a story for another day). Access to the center and parking are terrible. The center takes almost any business, even though many of them pay no sales tax and, thus, do nothing for the city. In that environment, it is hardly surprising that some of those tenants chose to break the sign law and put up large banners and other signage which is ugly and not permitted by city law. Further, Kaleidescope’s owners are constantly trying to put up more and larger exterior display signs to try and save their failing property, making their lack of business sense our problem and “uglifying” Crown Valley.

What is surprising is that, despite efforts by the city staff, Council Members Trish Kelley and Frank Ury specifically protected businesses like Howie's Game Shack from complying with the law by telling city staff not to enforce the law. At the Dec. 5, 2005, council meeting, Kelly made a motion to direct the staff to ignore the law and not cite Howie's Game Shack for violating the law. Note that the violations in question are ongoing and long-term, and many attempts have been made by the city to talk to the business and get them to correct the problems.

Even more ominous is the attempt by those same city council members to change our sign rules to permit some of the garish and ugly sign practices allowed in cities like Garden Grove and Costa Mesa. Of course, these council members and their supporters claim that loosening the sign code will help business and, thus, bring money to the city. However, this is poor reasoning. Although Mission Viejo has a strict sign code, it is fair, and all businesses, large and small, play by the same rules. The character of our city depends on having beautiful and clean streets. Larger and more obtrusive signs will destroy the “California Promise.”

What happens next depends on the citizens of Mission Viejo. All those who are concerned about this issue should contact their council members and let them know how they feel.