No Additional Building Sign for Subway at Palatine and Quentin Roads

A Subway location at the corner of Palatine and Quentin roads won’t be getting as much signage as it had been hoping for.

The Village Council rejected a plan this week for Subway, located 745 W. Palatine Road, to install a second sign on the western side of the building in an effort to increase visibility from northbound Quentin Road traffic.

Tim Ryan, the owner of the Subway location, told the village council that he took over that location after four or five previous owners hadn’t been able to make it work.

“I thought if I completely gutted it, went through the process of adding seating, added a real nice décor…I spent over $250,000 on that location—and we’re not making it,” Ryan said, adding that he puts $1,000 a week of his own money into that location.

The proposed side wall sign is 27 square feet and the existing attached Subway sign is 34 square feet. Total square footage of attached signage would be 61 square feet, which exceeds the maximum 40 square feet allowed.

The Subway is located in the Inverness Cleaners Plaza, but does not have frontage on Quentin Road. A 7-Eleven sits between the restaurant and the road. Village ordinance allows corner buildings that front on two public streets to have attached signs on each elevation.

Councilman Scott Lamerand said that the proposal is not consistent with anything the village has approved before and that adding a second sign to the building would be redundant. The zoning board of appeals voted 2-6 to deny the side wall sign at a March 13 meeting.

“I didn’t feel it was intrusive to anybody, but we’re just trying to pick up as much traffic as we can to try to make it work,” Ryan said, saying that across the street from the building is the Riemer Reservoir Park; kiddy-corner is a gas station and at the other corner is a bar.

Council memebers Kollin Kozlowski, Aaron Del Mar, Brad Helms and Mayor Jim Schwantz voted for the sign. Council members Greg Solberg and Scott Lamerand voted against it. Councilman Jim Clegg was absent.

The measure failed because it needed five votes for approval. In a separate vote, the council unanimously approved a tenant panel for the Subway on a freestanding sign that is not uniform in color to the rest of the sign.