Meeting set to discuss billboard restrictions

Sunday, June 10, 2007

BY CARRIE RODOVICH

The Plan Commission will have a public hearing Thursday on an ordinance that would regulate where and what type of signs and billboards could be placed in the city.The ordinance is designed to streamline and tighten loopholes in existing ordinances after last month's requests to the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Plan Commission to allow them in nontraditional places.Last month, the Plan Commission denied a request to rezone two parcels that would allow billboards to be built on railroad property along Mississippi Street and Interstate 65.Earlier this year, developer Larry Alt and Associates offered to pay $280,000 to purchase land at Robinson Lake Park and erect billboards along I-65. That proposal was tabled by the Board of Works.The Board of Zoning Appeals approved a request to move a billboard about 150 feet, but at the same time denied a request to add a billboard in the location where that billboard originally was built.Other business people have approached the boards, asking to install LED display signs or asking permission to advertise for outside businesses on their signs.City Planner Sergio Mendoza said the sign ordinance would regulate the size and placement of billboards as well as regulate how often signs with movable type could flash or flutter.It also would provide illustrations of different types of signs, where they should be placed near buildings and what size they should be.Thomas Vander Woude, an unpaid intern who is a graduate student at the University of Illinois - Chicago, worked with Mendoza on the ordinance."We want to maintain our character and be able to distinguish our community," Mendoza said.

Source: The Times, Munster, Indiana