Despite safety concerns, Palatine OKs electronic sign outside township HQ

A plan to turn the sign outside Palatine Township's office into an electronic message board was approved this week by the Palatine village council despite safety concerns raised by village staff.

Deputy Village Manager Mike Jacobs said officials worried the changing messages on an electric sign located outside the office at 721 S. Quentin Road would distract drivers passing through the nearby intersection of Quentin and Illinois Avenue.

The area is well traveled by cars and pedestrians because it is adjacent to Fremd High School.

Joe Vito, an attorney for the township, said if message boards were truly a safety issue the village wouldn't allow them along its commercial corridors. The sign's messages would be less distracting to passers-by than the sight of a township worker manually changing the message board's letters, he added.

Vito said although the township does not think the sign is a safety hazard, it would program the board not to change messages at the beginning or end of the school day at Fremd.

Councilman Scott Lamerand was the only council member to vote against the plan.

He said he is opposed to installing an electronic message boards in what is mostly a residential area.

Along with their plan, the township submitted 72 pages of signatures from residents who supported the sign, the majority of which had 20 signatures each.

Ken Lopez, the Palatine Township administrator, said the sign will become an electronic message board in about two months.

The current sign has been in use for at least 20 years, he said.

“We're looking forward to (the change),” Lopez said. “It'll be really helpful for us to show all the programs that we offer.”