Real Estates Signs Along Highways

You’ve seen them. All over McHenry County on a week-end. Those pesky paper-and-wireframe, real estate advertising signs for the Sonatas, Sweetwater, Evergreen Park, Neumann Homes, KB Homes, Patriot Estates, … you name it. The signs sprout on Friday night, germinate over the week-end, and then miraculously disappear on Sunday night.

Is it just a coincidence that they are placed when the McHenry County Planning Department is closed? Gee, it couldn’t be that the developers wish to avoid prosecution for placing their signs illegally in the right-of-way along Route 120 and other highways and roads in McHenry County. Or could it?

For more than two years I have ragged on the County Planning Department to take action against these and other developers. It took a l-o-n-g time, but the Department finally sent out a letter to developers last year. Did it do any good? No! Do you still see the signs all over the County? Yes!

The County Planning & Development Committee is finally giving some attention to the problem. Oh, how slowly the wheels do turn.

Recently I inquired whether it would be illegal for others and me to pull the signs out of the ground and lay them down on the ground, where they cannot be seen. I’m waiting for an answer from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department on this one.

What is clear is that these signs are illegally placed in the right-of-way. The County’s ordinance is crystal clear. But it would cost money to remove them. I suggested a $25-50 citation to each developer for each and every sign. And lots of publicity. Get a reporter and photographer from the Northwest Herald to follow the pick-up crew around.

So, the next time you see one of these illegal signs, be sure to call the developer or the real estate salesman and tell him you are going to buy from someone else – someone who respects the law and doesn’t break it by placing signs illegally all over the county.