The office of Forest Park pediatric dentist Jerry Udelson had its custom-made 6-foot-high sign, depicting “whimsical chattering teeth,” installed on a wall 22 feet above Harlem Avenue on Saturday.
Udelson received a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals to put up the sign only weeks before the new Forest Park sign code, which puts more “teeth” into signage rules, goes into effect. Under the new rules, Udelson’s 200-pound sign would have been prohibited as “non-conforming.” The teeth hover above another sign for children’s dentistry that the village would outlaw going forward: what consultant JoEllyn Charlton called a “light box” sign, i.e. lit from within.
When the new sign code is passed, new light box signs will no longer be permitted. Existing light boxes will be grandfathered in until the business changes hands, according to the proposed sign code.
