Freeway sign proposal includes lower height; adds new small digital signs at FV Sports Park
The City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 6, will consider a request by Clear Channel Outdoor to install a two-panel digital sign next to the 405 freeway. On August 12, the FV Planning Commission voted against the company's first proposal for the sign, that rejection based mostly on land use. The sign company has since made some modifications to its proposal, including lowering the height of the sign, moving the sign farther around to the other side of the water tank toward the industrial buildings, possibly adding trees, and changing the direction of the panels of the sign. Some key points that the City Council will discuss on Oct. 6: * HEIGHT (change): 65 feet tall (original proposal was 79 feet). The freeway is elevated 21 feet above ground at that point, so the sign will be 44 feet above the freeway grade. * VISIBILITY TO HOMES in Fountain Valley: No houses in Fountain Valley will be in view of the sign, according to Interim Planning Director Matt Mogensen. * LOCATION (change): North side of the city's water tank in the grass area. This is a change of 200 feet away from Costa Mesa. The water tank is in the industrial area of the city, next to the freeway, near the Orange County Sanitation District, and next to industrial buildings. The base of the sign would take up about a 10-foot-by-10-foot area. * PANEL SIZE: Two sign panels, each 14 feet by 48 feet. * LAND LEASE INCOME: The sign company would have a 30-year lease, paying the city $150,000 per year, increasing over time to around $200,000 a year (about $6.2 million over 30 years). The company would also pay a one-time payment of $60,000 to cover the cost of a set of small digital displays for the FV Sports Park and Recreation Center on Brookhurst that would be used for city event information. * VISIBILITY TO HOMES in Costa Mesa (change): It's possible the sign could still be seen from a few second stories of houses in the tract next to Moon Park in Costa Mesa even with the changes proposed. By moving the sign to the north side of the water tank, changing the direction of the sign panels, and possibly adding mature trees to the east edge of the property, it would reduce the line of sight from homes in Costa Mesa. * VISIBILITY TO FREEWAY, RIVER BED, FV, CM: ~The sign would be visible to both directions of freeway traffic (the sign would have two panels, one for each direction). ~Parts of the sign will be able to be seen from certain vantage points of the Santa Ana River trail and from Moon Park in Costa Mesa on the other side of the Santa Ana River. The meeting is at 6 p.m. at Fountain Valley City Hall, 16200 Slater Ave. You can attend in person, or watch on TV. Fountain Valley TV can be viewed on Time Warner Cable Channel 3, Verizon FiOS Channel 21 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.
