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Boards direct staff to add sign-illumination standard, require masonry bases for ground signs and address rope-lighting grandfathering
Summary
The joint meeting advanced code language to limit sign illumination to 0.5 foot‑candle at the property line, to require masonry or stone bases for new ground/monument signs, and to add provisions for grandfathering and a removal timeline for rope lighting.
Palos Park — At a joint Planning Commission and Zoning Board meeting, staff recommended and members endorsed a set of changes to the draft sign code: limit sign illumination, tighten ground-sign materials, and clarify grandfathering and enforcement for rope lighting.
Consultant Arista told the boards the draft will mirror the village’s exterior lighting ordinance on measurement and limits and proposed limiting sign illumination to one-half foot‑candle at the property line. “The intent here would be to mimic kind of what's in your exterior lighting… and just to say that we would limit illumination of signs to 1 half foot candle at the property line,” she said.
Why it matters: The changes are intended to reduce light spill into residential areas, give code‑enforcement staff an objective measurement to enforce, and preserve an architectural character for ground‑mounted signs.
Key outcomes and directions: Board members asked staff to add language into the sign section so that internally illuminated signs meet the same 0.5 foot‑candle limit at property lines. Members also agreed that new ground or monument signs should be constructed with masonry or stone bases and that pole signs should not be permitted as new ground signs; village signs would remain exempt. On decorative “rope lighting,” staff said the draft prohibited it going forward and that existing rope lighting could be grandfathered but not replaced; the boards directed staff to add a provision that would require removal within a short, specified period after the code becomes effective (staff noted 30–60 days as an example to be refined).
Implementation: Staff will rewrite the sign‑lighting section to reference measurable enforcement (light‑meter readings) or require a lighting plan when needed, add the masonry‑base requirement for ground signs, prohibit certain foam board or fragile materials as bases, and include a clear grandfathering/removal timeline for rope lighting in the next draft.
Ending: The boards directed staff to include these changes in the public‑hearing draft and to return with clear, enforceable text.
