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Kankakee planners back allowing pole signs for schools; electronic message boards limited to conditional permits and time limits
Summary
City staff presented text amendments to allow pole signs for institutional uses in R-1, R-2 and R-3 residential districts and to allow electronic message signs for those uses by conditional use permit; the committee discussed hours and asked that an 8 p.m. cutoff be forwarded for council consideration.
City planning staff presented text amendments to the zoning ordinance that would permit pole signs for institutional uses in R-1, R-2 and R-3 residential districts and allow electronic message signs for such uses only through a conditional use permit, and committee members discussed operational hours and residential impacts.
The proposal would make pole signs a permitted sign type for institutional uses in single-family and multi-family residential districts while treating electronic message signs as conditional uses that must return to the planning board and city council. Melissa King, city planner, said the draft keeps existing sign regulations in place and adds that the electronic portion of a sign be limited to 40 percent of the total sign area.
The planning board reviewed the amendments and recommended approval, 6-1, with board member Steve Case casting the lone dissent. King told the committee the planning board had debated whether to regulate hours in the ordinance or leave hours as conditions of a conditional use permit; the board left the hours to case-by-case review and included a proposed permit condition for one school sign that would turn the sign on at 7 a.m. and off at 7 p.m.
Members of the school district and its design team said the signs are intended to help communicate with parents and the community. "Once every 8 seconds would be good," said Brian Pensac, with DLA Architects, who said more frequent changes can help convey information to parents dropping off or picking up students. Pensac was speaking on behalf of the district on the messaging interval and display cadence.
A property owner who called planning with concerns said she worried about brightness, nighttime light pollution and impacts on elderly residents and on privacy. King said planners felt many of those concerns were addressed by making hour restrictions part of a conditional use permit so each location could be evaluated based on proximity to homes and the sign placement on a site.
Committee members discussed the sample conditional-use condition that limited operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; several members said that timeframe might be too restrictive for occasional evening school events such as board meetings or teacher conferences. After discussion the committee moved that the packet to city council include a recommendation to extend the sample permit hours to 8 p.m. for the sign at the site under review and to leave future sign hours to case-by-case planning-board review. Committee members and staff noted any change to the ordinance itself must be approved by the city council when the ordinance is scheduled for a council public hearing.
The ordinance text amendment and the conditional-use application for the specific sign are scheduled to be presented to city council on June 17 for final action, King said.
