Sports complex owner wants extra large sign to make sure motorists will see from interstate

The sports complex being built at Forest Grove and Middle Roads is asking the Bettendorf Board of Adjustment to approve an extra large sign so motorists won't miss it as they whiz by on Interstate 80.

The sports facility – initially known as the Bettplex and recently renamed TBK Bank Sports Complex – wants a sign nearly four times larger than the permitted 300 square feet.

The city's board of adjustment will consider the request for a variance to permit the 1,146 square foot sign at its Thursday (2/8) meeting.

The sign design provided city planners shows the building wall facing I-80 would have a 10-foot high logo of TBK Bank, with 3.6-foot letters under the logo saying "sports complex."

The variance application says the larger sign is necessary because vehicles traveling along I-80 will be 1,400 feet away from the sports complex.

Doug Kratz, developer/owner of the sports complex, has been on the board of directors of Triumph Bancorp, the Dallas-based parent company of TBK Bank, SSB, in Bettendorf, since 2013.