Planning commission backs code change to allow wayfinding signs at Temecula Auto Mall

The Temecula Planning Commission on Jan. 15 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an amendment to Title 17 of the Temecula Municipal Code to allow off-site wayfinding signs within the Temecula Auto Mall.

The amendment, filed as long-range planning project LR24-0435, would add an exemption to section 17.28.050 to expressly permit off-premise wayfinding signs in the auto mall’s medians and other public right-of-way. Staff said the change responds to dealer and customer complaints that insufficient directional signage causes confusion and lost sales.

Mark Collins, economic development staff who presented the item, told commissioners that the auto mall “generates roughly 30% of all city sales tax,” that dealerships provide local jobs and youth externship opportunities, and that the proposed ordinance would allow the city to authorize wayfinding signs “exclusively within the auto mall.” Collins also said the city’s recommendation does not authorize construction of any specific signs: “This proposed ordinance does not authorize, propose the construction or installation of any specific signage,” he said.

Staff described a conceptual design the…