Sign sparks debate

[Erik Sine]

Sign sparks debate

Gas station owner’s LED display showing prices first draws curious camera crews, then a misdemeanor charge.

By Christopher Cadelago

Published: Last Updated Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:33 PM PDT

Ted Shachory is the owner of Fleet Fueling on North Hollywood Way in Burbank.

Shachory modified his existing sign to advertise fuel prices electronically which has landed him in legal trouble

with the city due to an ordinance prohibiting the use of illuminated signage. (Scott Smeltzer/News-Press)

MAGNOLIA PARK DISTRICT — When the owner of Fleet Fueling and Burbank Auto Repair tore down his splintered pylon sign with acrylic facing last year and replaced it with a $16,000 electronic sign, he approached the move as an important business investment.

The installation made headlines, as camera crews from Reuters and ABC News made their way to 800 N. Hollywood Way to snap photos of the high-tech display, which digitally displays gas prices with the click of a remote control.

“All along, I knew it would enhance the property, enhance business,” said Ted Shachory, who for 24 years has owned and operated the fueling station and award-winning auto repair shop. “I never would have seen someone complaining, except maybe a competitor.”

Nonetheless, the complaints came, and Shachory, who repeatedly turned down requests to remove the sign despite the fact that it violates city rules, now finds himself battling a misdemeanor charge brought by the city attorney’s office. Shachory brought the issue in March to the City Council, which asked staff to evaluate the sign’s impact on the neighborhood.

The trial is on hold until the council receives the staff report and votes on whether to grant Shachory an exemption.

The first objection to Shachory’s sign came Aug. 27, when a resident called the city to complain. City executives told Shachory his LED sign violated the Burbank Municipal Code and was to be removed by Sept. 28.

Shachory shot back a letter in which he argued that his business is required by state and federal law to display gas prices and, therefore, the violation notice was invalid. The next inspection came Oct. 28. When Shachory refused to remove the sign, he was charged with a misdemeanor, filed Feb. 26 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The sign ordinance, which regulates size, placement and operational characteristics such as blinking, flashing and movement, prohibits the use of any light source, including incandescent bulbs, neon-filled tubes, LEDs and other light supplies, from constituting the text, image or border of a sign.

The legal tussle between small-business owners and municipalities over signage is nothing new, as communities continue to balance the inclusion of new, innovative technologies with maintaining a small-town atmosphere. Many of the message boards and signs scattered across the country are remnants of a bygone era, devoid of e-mail, cell phones and television.

Critics of the Fleet Fueling sign, which resembles a three-tiered scoreboard with static digits, each measuring about a foot in height, contend that it is distracting to pedestrians and motorists, and detracts from the business district’s charm, while Shachory and his supporters say it prevents injuries associated with installing manual, acrylic numbers and blends in with the rest of the operation.

Councilman David Gordon, an optometrist whose office is two blocks from Fleet Fueling, claimed some expertise in the field of vision and visual perception at a council meeting last week.

“Moving signs, perhaps even multicolored signs, dancing girls, whatever. Yes, that’s definitely distracting, at least for some of us,” he said. “But in any case, when you have a type of illumination which we are considering here, we can control it, we can directionalize it. We can specify it, first and foremost.”

But Mayor Dave Golonski, who lives around the corner from the gas station, was one of a handful of people who called the city to lodge a complaint against the business owner. Chief among his concerns is that other gas station owners will install similar LED signs.

“There was a statement made that this won’t happen all over the place. I just can’t believe that because these catch your attention,” he said. “I challenge any of you to drive down Hollywood Way and tell me that that sign doesn’t jump out at you, and you read the prices at that gas station whether you are interested in buying gas there or not.

“I think it’s a distraction, and that is the whole reason we prohibited LED in the first place.”

The gas digits are of a 70-degree directional- horizontal and a 40-degree directional-vertical, said Julie Ramirez, co-owner of the Sign Studio in Burbank, the shop that helped mount the sign. The digits are now on a photocell that automatically adjusts to the day, night and weather conditions. Tweaks to the sign could cost up to $1,000, Shachory said.

“If the conclusion is that they are still too bright, a controller can be easily installed, which will allow the brightness to be adjusted to whatever brightness is wanted,” Ramirez said, adding that she doesn’t believe the signs will inspire other gas stations to follow suit.

“That would be nice for our business,” she noted. “But the franchises out there, which are the majority of the gas stations, just aren’t willing to spend the money.”

[signeye]

But Mayor Dave Golonski,...

“I think it’s a distraction, and that is the whole reason we prohibited LED in the first place.”

IDIOT. Don't think meat you'll just hurt the team...don't bother checking into all the studies that have proved this to be bullshit either as it's easier to just follow your rules. I'm sure his eye doctor buddy has a wealth of sign and advertising legal experience though, great way to support the argument...

[Phunkybones]

"The sign ordinance, which regulates size, placement and operational characteristics such as blinking, flashing and movement, prohibits[/b] the use of any light source, including incandescent bulbs, neon-filled tubes, LEDs and other light supplies, from constituting the text, image or border of a sign."

Man have things changed for the worst in Burbank! I worked there for years and was amazed the size signs they would allow NBC and the studios to have on their buildings............

[HansonSigns]

The local county here has the same bias against LED price pods - they consider them "Message centers" and mc's are not allowed in the sign code. Except for government agencies (like the local fair grounds, which has one) and schools. They turned down a permit for gas station LED sign on a major road in the unincorporated county area, when just down the road (I think about 1/4 mile away), in the incorporated city, there are several small LED message centers.

I think it's obvious these ignorant people need to be business owners before getting elected. Maybe they'd understand that eye catching signs are a necessary component of a successful business.

Knotheads!

[Donco]

I went to South El Monte city hall (LA area) to see if they would allow an LED reader board for a client. The planning dept said absolutely no. The city does not allow animated, flashing, or color changing LED message boards. I thanked the Planner and left.

As I walked out of the building, right in front of city hall was a flashing, animated, color changing LED message board displaying info for the city. I couldn’t believe it, right there was the exact sign the Planner told me the city didn’t allow.

So I walked back in and asked the planner why the city has a LED message board but doesn’t allow businesses in the area to have one.

He had no answer.

[fishing nut]

All high rise buildings in Pittsburgh that have illuminated signs have to be on a dimmer control.