LITTLE ROCK — North Little Rock’s City Council refused Monday night to approve an additional pylon sign for a Wal-Mart Supercenter store just off Maumelle Boulevard.
Aldermen rejected the new sign 5-3. Aldermen Sam Baggett, Jimmy Phillips and Charlie Hight voted in the minority.
A representative for Wal-Mart maintained the 23-foot-high, 10-foot-wide sign was in the store’s original site plan. The site specified is at the northwest corner of Crystal Hill Road and Maumelle Boulevard (Arkansas 100).
The store opened in March 2008 at 12001 Crystal Hill Road, on about 24 acres near the border of North Little Rock and Maumelle.
An existing pylon sign is 1,000 feet north of that site, said David Elrod of Elrod Real Estate, who represent-ed Wal-Mart.
Alderman Murry Witcher, in stating his opposition to the sign, said he would be willing to change his mind if the store would make a concession in exchange.
“If they were willing to change their existing sign to a [smaller] monument sign to get this sign, I would support that,” Witcher said.
City Planning Director Robert Voyles confirmed to the council that the sign was in the original site plan for the development and “thought ithad been approved” previously, but that step hadn’t been completed.
However, Voyles added that one retail site having another sign of such size “is an exception to the rule.” Neither the city’s Sign Board or Planning Commission had reviewed the new request.
Baggett, who co-sponsored the legislation for the new sign with Phillips, said the sign was needed to help the store be more visible for traffic coming from North Little Rock. A curve in the boulevard restricts sight of the store that doesn’t front the main highway, he said.
Wal-Mart built an extension of Crystal Hill Roadnorth from Maumelle Boulevard to be the primary access point to the store that fronts the new street.
“It would be much more visible,” Baggett said of the added sign.
In a letter to Mayor Patrick Hays attached to the legislation, Elrod wrote that the recession highlighted the need for stores to be as visible to potential customers as possible.
“In this era of stagnant retail sales, we feel that added signage will enhance the visibility and recognition of the center,” Elrod wrote.
The site has several outparcels that have yet to be developed.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/28/2010