Des Plaines committee strikes down LED billboards

Des Plaines won’t be lifting its ban on LED (light-emitting diode) billboards after all.

After discussing whether to allow the billboards along expressways cutting through town, the city’s Legal and Licensing Committee — made up of 2nd Ward Alderman John Robinson and 3rd Ward Alderman Matt Bogusz — decided against recommending the matter to the city council for review.

The city council would have to authorize a text amendment to allow LED billboards to be used for advertising.

Bogusz said officials were hesitant because of the city’s controversial history with billboards.

“Moving forward tonight, even considering these billboards stands to create issues with those residents who objected to the billboards,” Bogusz said last week. “There’s a lot of folks in town who were surprised by billboards and weren’t happy with where they ended up.”

When the issue of LED billboards was first raised in 2007, there were only three such billboards in the entire Chicago metropolitan area, City Attorney Dave Wiltse said. LED billboards are much more common today along state highways, he noted.

Clear Channel Outdoor, a global company specializing in outdoor advertising, sought to revive the issue with plans to install LED billboards in Des Plaines.

“We have built 42 signs in the collar county areas,” said Jonathan Bevan, the company’s chief operating officer.

Bevan said it could cost a business anywhere from $2,500 up to $7,000 a month to advertise on an LED billboard.

If Des Plaines were to approve LED billboards in the future, they would be restricted to corridors along expressways and tollways, Wiltse said.

Presently, there are between 25 and 30 regular billboards in the city along I-90 and the Tri-State Tollway, he added.

“We would not want them to be popping up everywhere,” Wiltse said. “These boards are not meant to be a money generating method for the city. We can only charge regular permit fees. It’s not to be used as a revenue raising device.”

While LED billboards often are dominated by media companies and larger advertisers, Wiltse said they have been used for making public service announcements and safety messages such as FBI wanted alerts and Amber Alerts.

Bogusz said if the city doesn’t stand to make anything from LED billboards, and if a local business cannot benefit from advertising there, he didn’t see much point in the allowing it.

Des Plaines 5th Ward Alderman Jim Brookman, who sat in on the committee meeting, said he is concerned about the safety issues with LED billboards. “In some cases, they are so attractive that they are distracting,” Brookman said.

Brookman also was concerned about light from the billboards affecting residents.

If allowed by the city, a standard billboard could be changed into an LED billboard overnight, Bogusz warned.

Des Plaines recently has embraced bigger and brighter signs, with the city council last fall approving zoning changes to allow larger electronic message boards on commercial, manufacturing and industrial properties within the city, as well as on school property in residential districts.