It's a Home Run for Sports Leagues Using Banners in Parks

Little Leaguers in Rancho Santa Margarita can breathe a little easier.

The City Council hit a home run Wednesday on behalf of local sports leagues it decided not to charge fees for temporary sponsorship banners in city parks—banners that teams and leagues use to raise money.

By a 4-1 vote, officials decided to make temporary banner signs exempt from the city's sign permit process as a part of the first reading of a new amendment to the city’s zoning code.

Without the exemption, a temporary banner sign permit would cost $190, according to city staff.

The council also struck down a portion of the amendment that would have allowed small wireless facilities—frequently used by companies like Verizon and AT&T to increase wireless phone coverage strength—in city parks.

A number of residents who spoke during public comments said they were concerned about wireless facilities in city parks and that the city had not adequately notified the residents about discussion on the issue.

Resident Laura Smith said she wanted the council to postpone the issue to allow more people to respond.

“With parents on vacation and school not in session, perhaps more parents would like to have their concerns heard regarding the possibility of modifying the park zoning code regarding wireless cell towers,” Smith said.

City staff said that if the wireless provision of the amendment had been approved, there would have been no cell towers, only small, camoflauged installations that would blend in with current architecture, and only after following the multiple hearings. 

Councilmember Carol Gamble, who moved the item that was eventually approved, motioned to remove the wireless provision from the amendment and said she didn’t want to open that “can of worms.”

Other issues raised during public comments included worries about the effects that fees for temporary banners could have on local sports leagues and complaints that some banners were up all the time.

Tijeras Creek Little League president Jim Canty said the sponsorship banners are an excellent fundraising tool and if the council charged businesses to use them, it would hurt the players.

“It would definitely hamper our league in a serious way,” he said.

In contrast, Lorraine Kamholz said that there are other ways to raise money and that residents who live around parks such as Trabuco Mesa have to deal with seeing temporary banners up all the time.

“They are not temporary,” Kamholz said. “There will always be a banner. It’s just a question of what sponsor is up there.”

Councilman Jerry Holloway asked fellow officials if it would be a good idea to postpone the decision to allow staff to have more time to work with residents.

Mayor Tony Beall said that staff had spent months reaching out to the locals and had City Planner Nate Farnsworth list the city’s outreach efforts twice: once, before public comments, and a more detailed timeline, afterward.

Four councilmembers voted in favor of the zoning code amendment.

Councilman Jesse Petrilla, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said that he wasn’t in favor of charging fees for the banners, but he did want to give residents more time to respond.  

“Ultimately I felt that the residents demanded further investigation,” Petrilla said after the meeting. “If you look at the responses from the little input that we received from them, the overwhelming response was that they were not in favor of the banners.”

Gamble said the issue was only about discussing fees for the banners in question, not whether the councilmembers liked or disliked the banners.  

She said that the issue had become “overcomplicated.”

The banner issue drew comments and whispers from the 10 gathered attendees, unusual for the normally quiet council meetings.

After the vote, Brent Hoff, another RSM resident, praised the council for its decision "to remove the wireless provision amendment and" asked if they could look into the city’s current banner policy and examine it more closely.

Trisha Meyer, an RSM resident who spoke with Patch after the meeting, said she “thought that it seemed that the councilmembers were unclear and disagreed as to what the issue was.”

“And I don’t understand why they rushed through a vote something that didn’t seem urgent,” Meyer said.

After the meeting, Beall said, “I think the discussion at times became emotional because certain individuals began discussing items that were not part of our agenda. Our focus was quite specific and very discrete, and the right decision was made for the community tonight.”

The first reading of the amendment also included a modification to the code to allow the use of chain link fencing for temporary purposes and for existing sports field fencing use in park zones.

The second reading, which would make the amendment official, is scheduled to take place at the next city council meeting Sept. 14.

The Council also honored the city's adopted marine battalion, the 2nd Battalion 5th Marine regiment out of Camp Pendleton and a number of local businesses who had supported the Marines and their families over the past year.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story implied Brent Hoff praised the council's decision on banners; that was not the case.