The Oak Park Zoning Board of Appeals on Oct. 31 approved a variance allowing an illuminated blade sign larger than the ordinance limit for the property at 8150 West 9 Mile Road.

Applicant Jim Geary identified himself to the board and said he was seeking permission for a blade sign that would be illuminated and larger than the 4-square-foot maximum for non-illuminated blade signs. "My name is Jim Geary. I'm the owner," he said, adding the sign "would face the travel directions of 9 Mile and not be facing any residential homes." He told the board he would install the sign once a permit was issued and that fabrication delays had held up the project since he opened in February two years earlier.

A board member moved to approve the request for a waiver to allow the proposed blade sign to be illuminated and to measure 8.73 square feet (40 inches in diameter) to serve as the business's primary sign. The motion cited the zoning ordinance's Article 4, Division 4, Section 4.7.3 (additional sign standards), which the staff report described as permitting one non-illuminated blade sign not to exceed 4 square feet. The motion was seconded and put to a roll-call vote.

During the roll call recorded in the transcript, members Seligson, Steinberg, Lovovic, Clyde, Houston, Brown and Anderson answered "yes." The chair announced the motion carried.

The board's action grants the specific deviations requested in case 25-09 as recorded in the staff report: (1) allowing illumination of the blade sign and (2) allowing the blade sign to exceed the 4-square-foot non-illuminated limit by approving the 8.73-square-foot, 40-inch-diameter sign as the primary sign for the business at 8150 West 9 Mile Road. The applicant told the board the sign is oriented toward 9 Mile Road rather than neighboring homes; no residential impacts were described in detail in the record.

No conditions, amendments or recorded dissent were made part of the motion in the transcript. The applicant said he planned to install the sign shortly after receiving the permit.

The Zoning Board of Appeals handled this single case as new business during the meeting and then closed the public hearing and completed the vote. The transcript records the procedural motions, the applicant's remarks and the roll-call vote approving the waiver.