A DuPage County Board committee recommended approval Monday of a zoning request from officials at Morton Arboretum near Lisle, who are hoping to increase the visibility of the institution with new and larger signs.
If approved later this month by the full board, the arboretum will be allowed to put a 220-square-foot sign on its property along the East-West Tollway. The arboretum also would be allowed to replace existing signs along Illinois Highway 53 with larger signs.
County approval is needed, in part, because the sign the arboretum proposes to build along the East-West Tollway is more than four times larger than county zoning regulations allow.
Dalip Bammi, director of development for DuPage, said the signs will be visible to motorists but not distracting.
Before voting their approval, some members of the board’s County Development Committee questioned whether their decision might encourage corporations to make similar requests.
“This is absolutely not setting a precedent at all,” Bammi said.