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The Carbondale City Council will vote tonight at a special meeting on whether to amend the zoning text of the city code to allow freestanding signs anywhere within a business development after the Carbondale Planning Commission recommended the city to do so Wednesday night.
In what was a battle of semantics and confusion for much of the deliberation, the planning commission agreed to approve the proposed text amendment by the M.P. Land Trust, which is building a Kohl's Department Store on Giant City Road.
The amendments to Section 15-2G of the Carbondale Revised Code, if passed by the City Council, re-defines a business development as comprised of two lots that are contiguous and have unifying elements such as shared parking or access and a common commercial zoning classification.
"It is my understanding that Kohl's is not the only business that will be on this sign," said Tom Redmond, Development Services Director for the City of Carbondale. "The sign could list numerous businesses like what you see at University Mall. But then again, it could just list one business."
The M.P. Land Trust is currently in discussions with Kohl's for a parcel of land north of Kroger on Giant City Road and the national retailer has indicated that it desires to display a sign on Illinois Route 13 that would be visible to traffic.
"This sign will only be for those not on the frontage," said Rolf Schilling, the representative for the M.P. Land Trust. "Kohl's has requested this sign because this is the sign they typically have. ...We are trying to replicate University Mall."
Considering the amendment passes, the sign would be located east of the Saturn dealership off Route 13. Schilling said the sign would be simple, with "Kohl's" scrawled across the top with four smaller signs underneath.
The recommendations met little opposition, as opposed to the mass confusion the re-definitions caused. The worry that appeared to exist through the fog was whether the amendment would later be a loophole for a proliferation of signs across Route 13.
The Carbondale City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. tonight at City Hall.
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