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Chino Hills council tables decision on decorations for city-owned monument signs, directs staff to survey HOAs
Summary
After staff presented four options for handling holiday or seasonal decorations on city-owned neighborhood monument signs, the City Council voted to table the item and asked staff to survey homeowners associations and report back, citing equity and logistical concerns.
City Manager Ben Montgomery presented four staff options on April 8 for how the city could handle holiday and seasonal decorations on city-owned neighborhood monument signs: (1) create a permit process allowing private parties to install decorations under conditions and insurance, (2) sell affected parcels to adjacent homeowners associations, (3) deploy city crews to decorate specified monuments, or (4) continue to prohibit private decorations on city property under current authority.
Montgomery told the council that code enforcement discovered holiday decorations installed by an HOA at an Alterra monument and that the city had removed them because there was no formal agreement. He said staff found similar long-standing practices at other sites and that a fair permitting framework would be difficult because the city cannot legally limit use to a single private entity or easily restrict future content under First Amendment concerns.
Montgomery also described the practical challenges of selling small portions of city land (lot splits, surveys, utility meters) and said option three — having city staff decorate monuments — would require a budget and a citywide survey because the city maintains 52 monument sites.
Councilmembers expressed concern about fairness, outreach and cost. Councilmember Marquez requested broader outreach to HOAs to understand their preferences and the feasibility of purchasing property. Councilmember Rogers said the issue could have citywide ripple effects and said he was interested in option three but noted logistic and cost questions.
Councilmember Marquez made a motion to table the item and direct staff to survey homeowners associations and report back; Councilmember Rogers seconded. The motion carried unanimously with Mayor Bennett absent.
Council directed staff to return with survey results and options informed by responses from HOAs and a clearer estimate of the costs and logistics for a city-run decorations program.
