Two 25-year-old signs for WestRidge Court shopping center on Aurora Avenue could be replaced with larger and higher versions if the Naperville City Council agrees with a recommendation from the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Commissioners this past week unanimously endorsed height and size variances for new signs requested by the center’s manager, Brixmor Property Group. They would be installed in the same locations as the current signs.
While taller and larger than what is typically allowed by city code, the new versions would be similar in height and size to others already erected nearby, said Therese Egner, a member of the city’s planning services team.
Design of the new signs proposed for Aurora Avenue also would be consistent with two signs on Route 59 approved for the development in 2020.
“Staff is supportive of each variance due to the aesthetic enhancements and the design consistency with prior approved signs along Route 59, as well as the comparability to the attributes of the existing signs that they will replace,” Egner said.
Brixmor’s signage contractor, Larry Spence with Doyle Signs, said the planned replacement is about beautification and visibility for businesses within the 50-acre center.
WestRidge Court has almost 475,000 square feet of retail space situated inside a property shaped like an “L” on both the east and north sides of the new Block 59 development. Small lettering on the current Aurora Avenue signs for many WestRidge Court tenants “is not working. It’s inadequate,” Spence said.
“Being adjacent to that beautiful development of Block 59, these are really currently an eyesore,” Spence said about the existing signs. “We’d like to beautify that corridor by putting up some nice, new signs.”
Planning and Zoning commissioners agreed with Doyle’s assessment that the new signs would be much clearer and more functional than those currently in place.
Commissioner Derek McDaniel called the proposed signs “a very nice update” to reflect the quality of stores in the area, and chairwoman Whitney Robbins said refreshed designs would be consistent with recent improvements along Route 59.
Commissioner Mark Wright said allowing the signs to remain at a larger size than permitted by code “creates public safety” by increasing readability.
“This makes a lot of sense,” Wright said about the sign proposal. “Driving down Aurora Avenue, the speed and the amount of traffic, I think oversized signs are really the only way to go in that area. For an old guy like me, with glasses, anything smaller — with the amount of retail that’s in the shopping center — would be too small and you just wouldn’t see them.”
The Naperville City Council will consider Brixmor’s sign variance requests at a future meeting.
If approved, Doyle said demolition of the old and construction of the new signs would take roughly four to six weeks.
Marie Wilson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
