Two new signs will be installed at entrances to the River Forest Town Center, the village board decided Monday night, but the decision led to a discussion about parking limits in the center that angered some board members.
The 10-foot and 12-foot signs will advertise the tenants of the twin shopping strips at Lake Street and Harlem Avenue. One sign will be located at the southwest corner of Lake Street and Bonnie Brae with the second at the center’s entrance off Harlem Avenue between Lake Street and Central Avenue. Trustees voted unanimously to make the change to the development permit for the property manager Mid-America Asset Management.
Trustee Michael Gibbs said the signs would improve safety because people driving by wouldn’t have to look for signage on the actual buildings and could just look at the new signs.
After the vote, though, Village President John Rigas took the opportunity to question the management firm’s approach to handling a three-hour parking limit in the center’s parking lot. Rigas said he was not happy because he’s been receiving calls from the firm’s tenants and customers complaining about having their cars towed.
Without a towing restriction, employees, including over 200 at Whole Foods Market, could take up the spaces meant for shoppers, said Kay Nelson, vice president of Mid-America. People could also get on the nearby el while their cars sit in the lot all day, she said. There are 43 smaller signs that alert drivers to the three-hour limit, she said, but cars don’t get towed until after they have parked for four hours.
Rigas said he was “taken aback” at the corporate response and said the towing was “not a customer-friendly approach to doing business in our community.” Trustee Susan Conti called the towing policy “predatory.”
Shoppers have the mindset of being at the center for a while, Gibbs said. It’s not a rational thought progression for them to think they’d have to move their cars.
Customers who call the company and can prove they were shopping at the center during their time parked there can get a refund for the tow, Nelson said. But Rigas argued there are better solutions, like issuing tickets and keeping track of license plate numbers.
“I would be irate if I was a customer and I was given the runaround,” Rigas said.