Buffalo Grove board delays approval of OTB sign

While Buffalo Grove's village board has approved off-track betting, the decision's ripple effects continue to occupy the village board.

The latest issue was a request for a sign change for Adam's Rib & Ale House, 301 N. Milwaukee Ave., which will be reborn as Adam's Roadhouse Sports Bar & Grill.

That decision was deferred by the village board Monday night, after what turned into a complicated discussion of the philosophy of signage.

The issue related to removable letters on the sign that are used to advertise.

Brian Sheehan of the village's building and zoning department said the village has virtually no other such signs. Village President Elliott Hartstein said the village's traditional approach to regulating signs has been to limit them to identification rather than advertising. The current sign was grandfathered in when the property was annexed into the village.

The Zoning Board of Appeals bestowed its blessing on the new sign by a 5-2 vote. An informal committee of citizens from the area, led by Andrew Stein, a ZBA commissioner and a recent candidate for village trustee, had also nodded approval.

But Stein told the board Monday, Cy Koorosh Sadeghi, owner of Adam's Rib, did not understand that as approved by the ZBA, the part of the sign with removable letters could only advertise food specials, leaving out other events such as the Breeder's Cup.

As a result, Sadeghi, after consulting with and getting approval from members of the citizens committee, asked the village board to allow other events to also be advertised, with the provision that alcohol would not be advertised.

That led to a discussion of how much latitude the board has in regulating commercial speech without intruding on the First Amendment, whether approval of this sign would lead to other requests for signs with removable type, and whether the informal committee of citizens that approved the sign was representative enough of the surrounding area.

Trustee Lisa Stone said she opposes the use of the sign to advertise off-track betting events.

Hartstein questioned "whether we have the right to prohibit any copy under that annexation agreement."

Trustee Steven Trilling, noting that the ZBA and a "quasi" homeowners association had no problem with changeable copy, said, "I don't personally see the difference between advertising food or advertising some other amenity," other than liquor.