BERNSON WANTS TO TEST STATE'S BILLBOARD LAW.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Expanding the city's assault against the proliferation of billboards, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson said Friday he wants to launch a test case to challenge state law which restricts the city's ability to take down illegal signs.

Bernson said he plans to ask the council and city attorney to authorize municipal officials to remove one of three billboards that lack city permits in his Northwest San Fernando Valley council district if the sign owners refuse to take it down.

Under state law, it is difficult for the city to take down billboards that were put up without permits, especially if they have been allowed to stand for five years. But Bernson has doubts about the validity of the law.

``I want to challenge that law,'' Bernson said. ``I don't think it was appropriate legislation.''

He wants city officials to research ways that the city itself can take down illegal billboards, rather than waiting for the owners to comply with a city order.

A recent random survey of Bernson's council district in the northwest Valley found that nine billboards out of 104 violated city ordinances - three had no permits at all while six were modified beyond the constraints of their permits. The companies that owned the billboards were not identified.

Department of Building and Safety code enforcement chief David Keim said the department has found even higher rates of illegal billboards elsewhere in the city, with up to 40 percent of signs being modified beyond the scope of their permits. Keim estimates that the city has about 10,000 billboards.

The City Council recently passed an ordinance requiring city officials to inventory every billboard in the city, impose a fee on them and require them to post their permits on the pole. That would allow the city to more easily go after illegal signs.

Keim said depending on the staff he is allotted it could take up to four years to complete the project. As a result of the new ordinance, billboard companies are now required to pay a still-undetermined fee on every sign prior to July 1 so the city can hire new inspectors for the program.

The City Attorney's Office has not yet received a formal request from Bernson or the council but said it would research the issue after it receives a request.

Under state law, if a sign is believed to be illegal, normally the burden is up to the owner to prove it is legal, but after five years that burden of proof shifts to the city, according to Assistant City Attorney Sharon Siedorf Cardenas. That makes proving a sign illegal more difficult, she said.

She said the city and the state do not currently have any laws specifically allowing cities to remove illegal billboards, other than ordering their owners to take them down. The City Attorney's Office would have to research whether nuisance abatement laws - which, for example, allow city officials to demolish condemned buildings if the owners refuse - might apply to billboards.

``First, the city would have to declare it to be a nuisance,'' she said. ``Then we'd have to take steps to abate the nuisance.''

BILLBOARD SURVEY

In a review of 104 billboards, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety found no permits for signs at the following locations and said they are illegal:

--16940 Chatsworth St.

--17650 Chatsworth St.

--16612 1/2 Roscoe Place

The review also found signs at the following locations were illegally enlarged or heightened beyond the scope of their permits:

--8319 Reseda Blvd.

--10315 Balboa Blvd.

--20911 Roscoe Blvd.

--16207 Roscoe Blvd.

--16159 Devonshire St.

--8246-54 White Oak Ave.

SOURCE: Department of Building and Safety

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BILLBOARD SURVEY (see text)