(The Chicago Tribune)—A Downers Grove business owner is hoping the painted wall signs that have advertised his business for decades will not be allowed to fade away, but whether his current signs stay or go may now depend entirely on the results of his lawsuit against the village.
The village council voted July 21 to outlaw painted wall signs throughout the village. That includes the downtown district, the downtown transitional district and the Fairview Avenue business district where they had been allowed. The newly approved changes to the sign ordinance allow properties facing the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad tracks to have walls signs, but limits their size.
Bob Peterson, owner of Leibundguth Storage & Van Service, 1301 Warren Ave., said his current signs are crucial to his business. He has one painted wall sign facing the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad Tracks and others on the front of his business. The moving company is located in an industrial zone where the signs have not been allowed since 2005.
The amended sign ordinance bans the signs throughout the village because some have said they are not aesthetically appealing.
“The amendment would further enhance the aesthetics of the village,” said village planner Stan Popovich as he introduced the proposed amendment at a July 14 village council meeting.
Peterson said he doesn’t want to have to paint over his large sign facing the railroad tracks that he estimates has been there for 60 to 70 years. The moving business was founded in 1928 and Peterson has been at the business since the early 1970s.
Peterson is not satisfied with another change the village made to the ordinance that would allow one sign for all properties along the railroad tracks. The size of the signs would be limited to a total of 300 square feet at his business, which Peterson said is too small.
“People wouldn’t be able to see it,” he said.
Two other businesses that had painted walls signs have recently painted over them, said Doug Kozlowski, a village spokesperson. One was at Perma-Seal Waterproofing, 513 Rogers St., and the other was at Anderson’s Bookshop, 5113 Main St. where it was on a wall facing the parking lot of the Downers Grove Public Library.
Anderson’s owners removed their wall sign because of issues aside from the city’s painted wall sign ban, Kozlowksi said.
But Peterson is holding out. He estimates that he earns between $20,000 and $40,000 a year from his sign that exposes his business to thousands of Metra commuters.
“I get calls from people all the time who ride the train and they say they like the signs,” he said. “They like having something to look at.”
Peterson has taken his fight over his signs to the courts. He filed a lawsuit in December charging that the prohibition against wall signs is a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech.
Any decision on the Peterson lawsuit is not expected until at least late October and possibly longer, said Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney with the non-profit Liberty Justice Center, which is representing Peterson.
Schwab believes the ban on wall signs throughout the village is in reaction to the lawsuit. He doesn’t buy the village’s argument that wall signs are not aesthetically pleasing because they had been allowing them in the downtown business district, which he said is an area where the village puts a high emphasis on aesthetics.
“That’s an admission that wall signs are aesthetically pleasing,” he said.
Popovich said, however, that wall signs have other potentially detrimental impacts such as being painted in an amateurish manner and leading to graffiti.
Peterson said he has repainted his walls signs at least three or four times in the 43 years he’s taken care of them. He also retouches them periodically and maintains and cuts the grass in the area behind his business.
Instead of banning the signs, he thinks the village should inspect them on a regular basis and impose fines if they are not maintained.
“Keep them (the signs) up and if you don’t you get fined,” Peterson said. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
The changes to the sign ordinance do not ban flag signs or murals that Popovich said would be considered “decorative.”
Peterson said the ban on painted walls signs hurts small businesses.
“They’re going overboard with this sign ordinance,” he said. “They don’t realize the money and inconvenience it costs small business owners in Downers Grove.”