'For Sale' Sign Parking Ordinance Revised

County officials voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass the preliminary version of an ordinance that would ban parking cars with "for sale" signs on certain streets in Altadena and other unincorporated county areas.

The ordinance is specifically geared towards car owners who "park vehicles for the purpose of advertising or displaying such vehicles for sale" on public streets.

In Altadena's case, the current list of streets where the ban would be enforced is:

• Allen Avenue
• Altadena Drive
• Lake Avenue
• Loma Alta Boulevard
• Lincoln Avenue
• Mariposa Street
• Windsor Avenue

The streets on the list also differ slightly from the of the ordinance.

With the ban parking officers would be able to impound any cars on those streets that a) appeared to be there primarily for the purpose of advertising or being sold or b) had previously received a warning within the last 30 days that the car could be impounded.

According to the county staff report, unincorporated areas have seen a "proliferation" of cars parked with for sale signs on them, and that has resulted in "negative impacts" for residents and businesses

The ordinance had already been voted on two times previously to Tuesday, but Supervisor Don Knabe asked the board to bring it back at a later date to add new language allowing parking officials to expand the list of streets where the practice is banned if a new problem street develops.

Cheryl Burnett, a spokeswoman for Knabe, said that the new language would prevent car dealerships from simply relocating the cars to a street where the practice is banned.

The Board of Supervisors would have to vote to authorize any new streets, and signs would have to be posted, Burnett said.

The report also states that previous county ordinances banned parked cars with "for sale" signs everywhere on county land, but the county counsel had told parking officers not to enforce the ordinance because of other lawsuits in California cities that suggested that such a ban might not be legal.

A more limited ban that restricts parking on certain streets is more likely to be legally defensible, according to the report.

The ordinance will return for a final vote at a future Board of Supervisors meeting.