The Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen approved a large monument sign July 13 for the new Bass Pro Shops development at 3600 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

The sign is part of a large development, meaning the city must approve changes to it. The sign currently in its place was approved by the board in the past. 

The sign will represent Bass Pro, LongHorn Steakhouse and The Tile Shop. The resolution includes three variances related to the sign’s size — to vary the height from 30 feet to 48 feet, to vary the size from 200 square feet to 264 square feet and to vary the setback from 5 feet to 2 feet. 

“It mimics what the building itself looks like, that’s why we have asked for some of the variances as it relates to height of the sign,” Eric Albers, representative for Bass Pro, said. “We did go through a similar process for the height of our building.”

Overall the board liked the design of the sign, but there was some discussion about the difference between a pole sign and a monument sign. Ward 3 Alderman Cathy Friedmann said all the variances were pulled from the pole sign section of the code, meaning the city needs to keep this sign in mind when looking at pole signs in the future.

“We’re treating it as a pole sign to where code is right now … It’s going to meet the monument sign definition when we change our code,” City Engineer Bryson Baker explained.

The new unified development ordinance will be heard by aldermen at a future meeting and it will include the monument sign code. The board approved the sign and its variances 8-0.