After allowing construction of three controversial billboards on disputed land, Orland Hills has reinstated its billboard ban.
“Orland Hills is not interested in attracting new billboards,” Mayor Kyle Hastings said in a statement issued after the latest vote. He added, however, that, “we will not flatly rule out the placement of a billboard as part of an overall economic development package.”
The Village Board earlier had deleted its prohibition on off-premises advertising to allow three billboards to be built at 171st Street and La Grange Road. The billboards were constructed on 11.5 acres that Orland Hills and Tinley Park both have annexed and are arguing over in court.
The signs have drawn protests from residents of both Tinley Park and Orland Hills.
Neither Hastings nor Trustee Cal Million would answer questions about the vote to amend the sign ordinance to reinstate the ban, referring questions to attorney Mike Gibson.
Hastings later issued the written statement, which said that Orland Hills was not backing down in the face of protests over the signs, calling it a “severe overreaction to a small economic development project” in a highly congested area.
“It in no way compares to the dense urbanization that commercial development in Orland Park and Tinley Park has brought to the area surrounding my village,” he said.
Instead, Hastings’ statement says the amendment was enacted to avoid lawsuits from other developers who may seek to erect billboards for personal revenue.
Trustee Dave Diggs said the amendment is a way to control such signs.
“We don’t want to allow billboards on every street corner in town,” he said.
Diggs said that billboards already constructed will be allowed under a grandfather clause. While he declined to be specific, he also said other agreements already entered into by the village with developers allowing billboards also would be exempt.
Orland Hills recently announced plans to annex 22 acres along La Grange Road between 175th and 178th Streets, which led some residents to ask whether billboards are intended for that site.
Officials had approved two billboards along 159th Street when they approved those near La Grange Road.
Trustees Don Bigos and Marty McGill, who are political opponents of Hastings, opposed the amendment because they said they had no advance notice of it and because two village panels dealing with economic development had not been consulted.
Bickering over the issue escalated, with trustees interrupting each other and Diggs and Bigos trying to talk at once.
“Damn it, shut up when I’m talking, you ignoramus,” Diggs told Bigos at one point, adding that ordinances are presented to the Village Board, not other bodies.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for giving open and honest government a chance again,” Bigos told Hastings sarcastically.
Though Diggs said the prohibition against billboards was removed before the current signs were approved, Bigos said that was not the case.
