While billboards near a planned development may have to come down in Arlington Heights, one Bears own could remain: Situations are ‘apples and oranges’

A Chicago Bears electronic billboard on Route 53 could be among the giant advertisements at risk of coming down next month if the Arlington Heights Village Board moves forward with plans to eliminate all billboards in the northwest suburb.

The issue came up at the Village Board meeting earlier this month when trustees considered a zoning change for a property at the triangular intersection of Rand Road and Chestnut Avenue. The property owner is looking to construct five new townhomes on the parcel.

The automotive repair center on that corner, Arlington Performance Center, currently has two billboards on the property, which the owner said generate an estimated $8,000 a year in advertising revenue. But as part of approving the zoning request, the board stipulated that the billboards must be taken down within the next five years.

Then, the board’s discussion turned to the electronic billboard the Bears own in Arlington Heights.

The NFL team has one towering near the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse – which they now own – at Route 53 and Northwest Highway.

Mayor Tom Hayes said at the May 6 Village Board meeting that the Bears’ electronic billboard is unique and unlike the billboards on Rand Road the board wants removed.

“That is really a one-off,” he said about the football team’s billboard. “It’s such a unique location on [Route] 53, it was for a specific purpose.”

The mayor said comparing the football team’s billboard to the ones at the site of the planned town house development is “apples and oranges.”

According to Hayes, “They’re both billboards but this one is so different for me. We have to look at these on a case-by-case basis.”

In general, the village does not allow “this type of signage,” but exceptions have been made, including in 2017 for Churchill Downs, the former owners of the now-demolished racecourse. In fact, according to the special permission the Village Board extended to Churchill Downs, the billboard was supposed to come down once horseracing ceased at the site.

“The purpose of the billboard was to generate extra revenue for the facility and promote their events,” Village Manager Randy Recklaus told village trustees at a March 2022 meeting when Churchill Downs asked for an extension on the use of the billboard.

But the Village Board voted then to allow the electronic billboard to remain – even going beyond the stipulation that it come down if the racetrack ceased operation. Village staff learned in early 2022 that Churchill Downs staff remained at the horse racing venue to maintain the property and keep it secure, pending the sale of the facility.

The Bears were granted an extension for the electronic billboard shortly after buying the site in 2023, and the extension was set to expire June 2024 – at which point the board would review a renewal.

Trustee Scott Shirley asked during the May 6 board meeting if the village plans to ask the Bears to take their billboard down.

“It is something we would look at in the context of that [former raceourse] development,” Recklaus said, reminding trustees that the current approval for the electronic billboard expires June 30 and the Village Board has the opportunity to renew it.

Recklaus explained that when extensions were approved for the electronic billboard that the Bears now own, it was because the sign is on a highway and not viewed mostly by other Arlington Heights residents and businesses.

“It was different,” the village manager explained. “But that doesn’t mean the board couldn’t take it away. It was looked at differently than on a commercial corridor.”

The billboards at 315 W. Rand Road, near where the town houses would be built, are within a commercial corridor the village is planning to improve.

“There’s a reason why we don’t allow billboards anymore,” Trustee Jim Bertucci said. “It goes counter to the beautification plan for that corridor.”

Charles Witherington-Perkins, village director of planning and community development, said the village plans to add a median with landscaping at Arlington Heights and Rand roads, as well as at Chestnut Avenue and Techny Road. In addition, pedestrian crosswalks at major intersections, village gateway signs and improved, enhanced banners for the area are planned to boost aesthetics of the shopping district.

“I do agree with the policy of not generally having billboards in town,” Hayes said. “We really need to clean that up.”

But as the zoning request trustees approved this month stipulates that the billboards must come down at the Rand Road site, the Bears may have some wiggle room.

“I don’t see any negative impact,” Hayes previously said about the electronic billboard the team now owns.

Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.