MOORPARK : Church Directional Signs May Be OKd

The Moorpark Planning Commission will ask the city to change its sign ordinance, permitting churches and other non-commercial organizations to set up signs that direct traffic to their establishments.

The ordinance now prohibits businesses and organizations from erecting signs off their property. However, at a meeting Tuesday night, commissioners learned that several area churches have such signs and agreed unanimously that they do not constitute advertising.

“The purpose of the law as it reads now is to prevent commercial . . . advertising . . . to prevent signs such as ‘McDonald’s, One Mile Ahead,’ ” Commissioner Michael H. Wesner Jr. said. A change would allow signs that are “directive in nature and not obnoxious.”

Commissioners learned that at least three churches, including the United Methodist Church and Gateway Community Church, have signs directing parishioners.

A church applying for a permit to worship in an old union meeting hall also wanted to erect a sign near its property but learned it was prohibited. After a Tuesday hearing on a permit for that church, commissioners agreed to recommend that the City Council amend the ordinance in the next few weeks.