Planning Commission Postpones Sunset Strip Billboard Petitions

West Hollywood’s Planning Commission held one of its shortest meetings on record Thursday evening. Despite a full agenda on the schedule, all items were postponed for various reasons and the meeting ended in 30 minutes.

The biggest, and possibly most controversial, items were three different Sunset Strip businesses petitioning to either add billboards or alter existing billboards on their rooftops.

The Grafton Hotel at 8462 Sunset wants to construct a v-shaped billboard on its roof. The Key Club at 9039 Sunset wants to install a two-sided billboard on its roof. And the building at 8535 Sunset (between La Cienega and Alta Loma) proposes replacing its existing v-shaped billboard with a two-side one.

The Commission voted to delay hearings on all three petitions to an undetermined time in the future, awaiting instruction from the City Council. In voting for the delay, Commissioner Sue Buckner said she was uncomfortable setting precedent without Council direction.

Commissioner John Altschul noted that it is important to get input from residents and businesses before proceeding. He suggested forming a Sunset Billboard Task Force.

Commissioner Marc Yeber expressed concerns about oversaturation of billboards along the Strip. "Many billboards make none of them effective,” he said.

Commissioner Barbara Hamaker concurred, noting that “less is more.” She also expressed concern that the Sunset Specific Plan, which guides development along the Sunset Strip, was written 15 years ago and might need to be revised in terms of billboards.

The Commission also delayed a proposal to demolish the building on the southeast corner of Robertson and Santa Monica boulevards. That building has seen many restaurants/bars come and go over the years—the most recent being the coffeeshop.

The new proposal is to tear down the existing building and replace it with a 5,212-square-foot bar/nightclub and 1,604-square-foot outdoor dining patio.

Planning Commission will deal with that proposal at its May 5 meeting, where it will also consider changing conditional use permit from a restaurant to a nightclub.

Finally, the City Hall staff approved the delay of a proposal before the Commission to change zoning ordinances to require churches and temples located in residential areas to get a conditional use permit for the banquet facilities they have on site. The delay was granted since this week has holy significance in both Christian and Jewish faiths.

The six churches/temples that would come under this zoning amendment are St. Victor Catholic Church on Holloway, First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills on Cynthia Street, Crescent Heights United Methodist Church on Fairfax, St. Ambrose Catholic Church on Fairfax, the Iranian American Jewish Federation Temple on Crescent Heights and the Buddhist Temple (Nichiren Shoshu Myohoji Temple) on Crescent Heights.

Currently, those banquet facilities are not required to have a conditional use permit and the city wants some way to regulate the use of them. The Commission will deal with that zoning amendment at its May 19 meeting.