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Forest Park council approves rezoning, subdivision and conditional-use for digital billboard at 7900 Madison and adopts temporary moratorium
Summary
The Village Council approved a rezoning, subdivision and conditional-use permit to allow a two-faced digital billboard at 7900 Madison, then adopted a temporary moratorium to limit future billboard approvals while staff develops longer-term rules.
The Village Council of Forest Park voted unanimously to approve a package of land-use actions that permit a two-faced digital billboard at approximately 7900 Madison Street and to adopt a temporary moratorium on new billboard approvals.
The council first voted to rezone the parcel from the B1 shopping district to the I2 district, then approved a preliminary and final plat of subdivision and a conditional-use permit for an electronic two-faced digital LED billboard. The measures carried on voice votes by the four members present: Commissioner Maxim, Commissioner Melan Reggoven, Commissioner Vogue and Mayor Hoskins; Commissioner Nero was absent. Ordinances recorded included the rezoning (ordinance 03-26), the conditional-use permit (ordinance 012-26) and the subdivision (ordinance 014-26).
Council then approved ordinance 015-26, a temporary moratorium on accepting and processing applications for billboard signs and related entitlements regulated under the Highway Control Act of 1971. Commissioners said they supported the moratorium to preserve limited future locations and directed staff to draft follow-up regulations limiting the number and placement of billboards.
Director Glinky explained that the proposed billboard location is at the furthest southwest corner of the property and noted it is contiguous with a CTA-owned parcel zoned I1, which together allow billboard uses. Several commissioners said the approved private investment had included commitments to community benefits, including potential care for a nearby cemetery, but that resident concern about proliferation of billboards justified studying tighter controls.
The council recorded the moratorium vote and the prior land-use approvals as passed. Staff received direction to prepare ordinance language and regulatory options to limit future billboards and to return with recommended standards.
The council’s action clears the way for the billboard project at 7900 Madison while pausing the processing of other billboard applications pending the moratorium’s implementation and any subsequent code changes.
