CITY EXERCISES RIGHT TO TOPPLE TALL SIGN.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Santa Clarita Athletic Club patrons routinely hit the gym to shed a few pounds but next week the city will force the club to lose about 20,000 pounds.

After the club's owner declined for years to remove or revise a 39-foot-tall lighted sign - which predates a local signage law it violates - the city got the court's backing to topple it. A contractor cut power to the sign Thursday, but because rain was forecast through today the contractor will return with a larger crane to finish the job over several days next week.

``Since April 2005 we've been working with the property owner to try to get him to voluntarily remove the sign but he refused to do so,'' said Chandra Spencer, an attorney for the city. ``So we then obtained a court order allowing the city to remove the sign at the end of February. We gave him one last opportunity to remove the sign himself, but again he refused to do so.''

The city will pass along the cost - expected to be about $20,000 - to Charles Hamilton in his property tax bill.

Hamilton, nonplussed by the city's action, said, ``they will pay for it.''

A warrant issued by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge grants the city access to the premises through March 27 for the purpose of taking down the sign.

Hundreds of business owners have retooled illegal signs since the 1990 law was enacted. The city has not taken legal action against any other businesses.

The law, which had a nine-year grace period, spells out how large, tall and bright signs can be. The club's sign is almost three times as high and 12 times as big as the sign code allows.

Hamilton opened the gym in 1993 and has been dealing with the sign issue since about 2001. He did not appeal the Santa Clarita Planning Commission's decision ordering him to remove the sign to the City Council or to the courts, Spencer noted.

The beacon once hawked an auto sales business.

An electronic monument sign visible further north on Interstate 5 near the Valencia Country Club, a joint project between several businesses and the city, conforms to the city's sign ordinance.

A developer proposes to build a 600,000-square-foot business and retail center on acreage where the club stands. The club will be demolished, and Hamilton said a new and improved 55,000-square-foot Santa Clarita Athletic Club will be built there.

``We're swapping land for land,'' he said. ``We'll be (in) the new building when the other one is torn down.''

The sign will be dismantled in pieces. Hamilton must store them elsewhere or the contractor will dispose of the pieces Wednesday, said Gail Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the city.

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com