Ogden billboards staying until end of 2015 in Naperville

The billboards on Ogden Avenue at Rickert Drive in Naperville have a new lease on life.

The agreement allowing the signs to stay on the property of Simply Hair Salon and Renewal Spa owner Frances "Dolly" Long expired June 7.

Long petitioned the city council Tuesday night for an extension and won an extra year and a half, allowing the billboards to remain until Dec. 31, 2015.

"I think leniency and flexibility should apply here," council member Robert Fieseler said in moving for approval of the extension.

The billboards had been allowed on the property as part of a 1994 annexation agreement in which the city took some property from Long to build part of Rickert Drive. The agreement said the billboards could remain for 20 years - a term that expired June 7.

The city notified Long on April 9 of the approaching expiration date. Council member Doug Krause said that wasn't adequate warning and suggested allowing the signs to remain for another two and a half years. Council member Judith Brodhead said she could support them for up to three more years. On a busy road in a commercial area, she said the 14-foot-tall and 48-foot-wide advertising signs are not that much of an eyesore.

"I don't think they are particularly unsightly considering the location," Brodhead said.

Kathy West, Long's attorney, said her client wanted the signs to remain as a supplement to the income from her hairdressing business. West asked for an additional seven years, but Fieseler proposed the year-and-a-half extension, which was approved by a 6 to 3 vote.

Council members Paul Hinterlong, Joseph McElroy and David Wentz voted against letting the billboards stay put until the end of 2015.

"Due to extenuating circumstances, I could go along with giving an extra year," McElroy said. "After that, I think is irresponsible."