Walgreens Electronic Sign Goes Back to Drawing Board

The Palatine Village Council once again delayed a decision about whether to allow an electronic message board at the Walgreens on Northwest Highway at Palatine Road.

has been trying to gain village approval for an electronic message board to replace its current sign since early August, but issues concerning possible driver distraction, size and its proximity to the electronic sign continue to dog the proposal.

The village council was set to vote on the issue at its Oct. 10 meeting, but the matter was continued until mid November due to persistent concerns.   

The village council voted Aug. 1 to grant a special use variation to allow the proposed message board to be 20 feet high and 140 feet away from the park district sign.

The zoning ordinance for electronic message board signs requires they be 500 feet from one another on the Northwest Highway corridor.

“Walgreens got approval from the village council, and the park district sign was up, but it had not been activated yet,” Deputy Village Manager Mike Jacobs said. “When it was activated the following week, it was more visible and the council reconsidered the decision.”

The council then came back on August 8 and invalidated the special use variation it granted and continued the matter to the Oct. 10 meeting.  

“It was my contention when we first went through this that a sign in that spot is going to cause issues with visual aesthetics and also would be jamming up that corner,” District 2 Councilman Scott Lamerand said.

Prior to the Oct. 11 meeting, Village Manager Reid Ottesen said Walgreens submitted an updated plan to reduce the height of the sign to 12 feet and to convert it to a monument style sign instead of a typical sign with poles.

But the concessions didn’t appear to quell all of the apprehensions about the proposal.

“If you’ve driven down Northwest Highway, you can see the two signs going west to east," Lamerand said. "If you make the sign 12 feet tall, they are going to be stacked top to bottom."

Other issues include the length of time messages would remain on the message board signs. 

“We believe in regards to message duration, a 60-second hold of a message is important," Ottesen said. "The number of messages shouldn’t matter — just how long the message is up."

The percentage of the sign itself that would carry the messages also is a sticking point. The code allows for electronic messages to take up 40 percent of the total sign area. Walgreens previous proposal asked for 50 percent.

Other council members are keeping an open mind until Walgreens comes back with its revised proposal.

“I believe if this sign is done properly and the messages stay up there for 60 seconds, it’s not going to be any different to me than if I’m driving by and looking at their sign with all the print on it,” District 3 Councilman Jim Clegg said. "It is just changing the way they deliver their message."

Village staff continues to monitor whether the proposal is able to fit in with code standards.

“We’ve expressed the concern that the proposal is not consistent with code requirements," Jacobs said. "The main concern is the proximity between the two signs."

Walgreens has indicated they would adjust the sign to work within the code and present the changes at the Nov. 14 meeting, Jacobs added.

“This will ultimately be a policy decision,” Jacobs said.