The Aberdeen Board of Commissioners also approved the site plan for the shopping center on U.S. 15-501 near U.S. 1, where Big Lots and several other stores used to be.
The developers asked the town to allow larger signs, which they said could help them attract some national chain stores to the center. Developers presented several drawings and other visual aids showing how big the signs would be on the buildings. The store names on the drawings were Bed, Bath and Beyond, PETSMART, Rack Room Shoes, Ross Dress for Less and Best Buy.
Board members had been reluctant to change the sign ordinance for fear that every shopping center in town would jump at the opportunity to install larger signs. But the board agreed to change the ordinance and then re-evaluate it as soon as possible.
The board could change the ordinance again, to have signage approved on a case-by-case basis. That would probably be on the agenda of the board’s next work session later this month.
For now, signs on the front of stores in shopping centers can take up 8 percent of the frontage area provided they are smaller than 400 feet. The old ordinance allowed signs up to 2 percent.
The idea of some stores having signs four times their current size still worries the board members. The company developing the planned new shopping center, Faison and Associates of Charlotte, is also the developer of the shopping center across U.S. 15-501 that includes Peeble’s and Harris Teeter.
Stores in the new development would be set back several hundred feet from the road. The parking lot must have fast-growing trees. Under those conditions, larger signs made sense, board members said.
In the case of Peeble’s, which almost directly faces U.S. 15-501, a larger sign would look out of place and not be in keeping with the character Aberdeen has worked hard to establish, board members said.
All the commissioners wanted the new development, which could generate $30 million to $40 million in retail sales. But they struggled with the developer’s request for larger signs because of what it would mean for the rest of the town.
“Aberdeen is working hard to have a nice unique image,” Commissioner Donna Shannon said. “We lost that down U.S. 1. It’s Hamburger Alley. It looks like every U.S. city. However, we do like the shopping center. It’s a good thing. I’d like a compromise.”
Faison had initially asked that the town increase the maximum size of signs to 10 percent but “made an offer” of 8 percent when it became clear that the board couldn’t stomach 10 percent.
Commissioner Art Parker made a motion that the board approve the sign ordinance change as a compromise with Faison. He included two conditions in the motion. One is that the town is approving the change only because the developers agreed to put in more landscaping. The other is that the town intends to change its sign ordinance again to give it more control.
“Seriously,” Shannon said in offering to second the motion. It passed unanimously.
No word was available as to when construction would begin or which retailers would be in the shopping center. The Pilot was unable to reach representatives of the development company for comment Tuesday
Aberdeen Planning Director Giles Hopkins said he had heard that the names used to show the board the size of the signs were of companies that were in negotiations with Faison.
