When local residents heard that a 120-foot LED billboard was proposed for the southeast corner of the CTA Blue Line station, they quickly organized and pushed back at a planning and zoning commission meeting April 15, which continued during a meeting May 20.
The meetings were held to decide whether the planning and zoning commission should recommend to the village council to approve a conditional use permit for the billboard, since 711 Des Plaines Ave. is in an industrial district and a special permit is required to install a billboard there.
On May 20, the commission voted against recommending that the council approve the billboard’s conditional use permit. Of the seven-member board, only Ryan Russ and Chairperson Marsha East voted to recommend the permit.
“This is a review committee. This is about due process. Whether I like something or not, I have to give it a voice to be heard,” East said. “If it meets the conditional use permit, if we deny it, we open ourselves up to litigation.”
“Approval can also lead to litigation,” said Gene Armstrong, who lives in the Residences at the Grove, 7757 Van Buren St.
The criteria for a conditional use permit include:
- That the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the conditional use will not be detrimental to, or endanger the public health, safety, morals, comfort, or general welfare;
- That the conditional use will not be injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity for the purposes already permitted, nor substantially diminish and impair property values within the neighborhood;
- That the establishment of the conditional use will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of the surrounding property for uses permitted in the district;
- Those adequate utilities, access roads, drainage and/or necessary facilities have been or are being provided;
- That adequate measures have been or will be taken to provide ingress and egress so designed as to minimize traffic congestion in the public streets;
- That the proposed conditional use is not contrary to the objectives of the current comprehensive plan for the village of Forest Park; and
- That the conditional use shall, in all other respects, conform to the applicable regulations of the district in which it is located, except as such regulations may, in each instance, be modified pursuant to the recommendations of the board.
Board members who voted to not recommend the permit said it would violate points two and five.
“I don’t see anything that shows me that it will not impair values and reduce the enjoyment of other property nearby,” said commission member Kerri McBride. “So, I am a no.”
“We are witnessing the injury and lack of enjoyment right here, with all these people speaking their concerns,” said commission member Scott Whitebone.
Changes from resident feedback
Locals’ complaints at the April 15 PZC meeting, plus during public comment at the Village Council meeting April 22 and at the May 20 meeting, included that the billboard would be too tall, too bright and, because it’s on CTA property, that Forest Park wouldn’t get any money from its advertisers.
After the first meeting April 15, the commission decided it needed more information before they decided whether or not to recommend the conditional use permit.
At the second meeting May 20, the CTA reduced the proposed height of the billboard from 120 feet to 75 feet and, because of resident pushback, changed it from a two-sided LED screen to a singular side, said Nicholas Ftikas of the Law Offices of Sam Banks, working with the CTA and Outfront Media.
“Why we landed on that 75-foot height is because it’s at a point where, from the residential district, from the street, you can’t see the structure,” Ftikas said. He added that, May 13 a bucket truck parked at the billboard’s proposed site was raised to 75 feet and wasn’t visible from the street on Lathrop Ave.
And the billboard’s design was amended to face just southwest, toward I-290, to reduce the effect a screen on the other side would have on surrounding properties.
“There is absolutely zero light going toward the nearest residential district to the east,” Ftikas said.
Residents who spoke at public comment during the PZC meeting May 20, disagreed.
“Although they’ve made concessions and lowered the sign, all of the facts they presented tonight are extremely biased,” said Gerry Santora, who lives on the 600 block of Lathrop Ave. The top of the bucket truck, he said, might be 10-by-5 feet, compared to the billboard’s proposed 60-by-20 feet. And he added that it doesn’t mean much that the truck couldn’t be seen from his street in May, when trees are covered in leaves.
“In summer, trees will allow about 10-to-30% light transmission or visual transmission. But in the fall and winter, you have 70-to-90% visual transmission,” said Santora, who works in development. “You’ve also completely not considered the fact that almost every house on that block, and the blocks on the south side of the Eisenhower, have two stories.”
“If this request is approved, I and all the other condo owners with eastern exposures will be exposed to a giant flashing video board all day and all night,” Armstrong said. “This is a gross disruption to our right to the quiet enjoyment of our property.”
Board members agreed with these residents, leading to the majority vote of not recommending that the Village Council approve a conditional use permit for the billboard.
“My no is based on its going to be obstructive on the ingress of the Eisenhower, I believe, and there’s going to be a seven-foot-wide pole at the bottom of it,” said PZC Board Member Kevin Hibbits. “I think it’s going to stick out like a proverbial sore thumb as you drive up and down Des Plaines.”