As Naperville works to update its sign code, the city is giving residents the opportunity to weigh in on how large temporary signs – yard signs, political signs, special event signs – should be.
Proposed new regulations on temporary sign sizes in Naperville come on the heels of a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Gilbert that said temporary sign regulations must be the same for all signs, regardless of content.
“Now, we are asking the community to tell us what they think about temporary signs,” said Amy Emery, supervisor of strategic projects for Naperville.
Residents and business owners are asked to choose what they think is a suitable size for signs in residential and nonresidential areas. The survey includes three options for both areas: 24 inches by 24 inches, 24 inches by 36 inches or 24 inches by 48 inches in residential areas, and 24 inches by 48 inches, 36 inches by 48 inches or 48 inches by 48 inches in nonresidential areas.
Naperville has been seeking public input on the proposed code since the end of September, and the city reached out to the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation and the Naperville area Chamber of Commerce to get residents and business owners to weigh in. Residents and business owners can fill out a short paper survey at the municipal center or online until Nov. 9.
The city will tabulate the survey results and present them to the plan commission Nov. 16.
Another goal the city has in updating the code is to ensure the sign code is easy to understand.
“It seems the way they are looking at it is to try and clean up a lot of the issues with the code and make it user-friendly and easier to interact with,” said Colin Dalough, the Naperville chamber’s director of government affairs and business development.
A big part of the code rewrite for the business community has to do with commercial window and wall signs. The proposed code rewrite, if approved, would mean more open regulations for businesses using canopies, awnings and window signs as part of their sign strategy, Dalough said.
“One of the stated goals is more freedom for dynamic displays in windows in the central business district,” he said.
The chamber is appreciative for the city’s efforts to be open with the proposed rewrite, and while the chamber has not yet taken an official stance on the proposed rewrite, Dalough said the updates are “laudable.”
The online survey and additional information on the sign code can be found at http://www.naperville.il.us/projects-in-naperville/sign-code/.
