Village trustees, who are pondering possible revisions to New Lenox’s sign ordinance, said requests from area business owners point to the need for change.
Tom Walsh of Shorewood, who owns the Village Square shopping center at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Haven Avenue, this week repeated his request for a waiver of sign restrictions for his tenants.
“My situation is unique. Most of my tenants don’t face the street,” Walsh said.
The difficulty of reading the signs and finding the businesses forces customers to drive slowly in an area where road construction has created traffic hazards of its own, he said.
When large vehicles, such as pickup trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles, are parked in the lot, they can block the driver’s view of the signs, he said.
“There have been numerous fender benders and people have actually driven through the fence looking for signs,” he said.
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One of Walsh’s tenants, John Angelino, said the combination of poor visibility and road construction has damaged his business. “I’m starving out there,” Angelino said.
He said he hung a banner, which is prohibited by the sign ordinance, to attract business. The move got him a ticket from the village.
The construction on U.S. Highway 30 has left the road “like a minefield,” he said.