By TODD WESSELL

Journal Editor

An attorney representing a Chicago area billboard company said his client was frozen out of erecting one or more outdoor advertising signs in Des Plaines after initially believing that the process of applying to build signs would be open to any interested firm.

The right to erect 10 signs was awarded by City Council in May of 2003 to one company, Premere Outdoor, Inc., whose three shareholders less than two months later would receive millions of dollars after selling their rights to one of the largest billboard companies in the nation.

"Why grant an exclusive franchise to this firm? It doesn't benefit the city," said Des Plaines attorney Dan Dowd in a recent telephone interview. "It allows Premere the right to stick up the sign industry in Des Plaines without a gun. Someone is getting awfully rich off this thing."

Dowd represents area billboard company Image Media which has been seeking permission since around June of 2003 to erect as many as seven outdoor signs along local tollways.

Dowd recently told members of the city's License & Judicial Committee as well as the Journal that when his client approached the city in 2003 about erecting several new billboards along local tollways, he was encouraged to do so by then acting city manager Bill Schneider. Dowd said his client was told that a proposal submitted to City Council in early 2003 by Premere Outdoor that would likely lead to the establishment of 10 new billboards would be open to any interested billboard company on a first come, first serve basis. However, at a meeting two months later, Dowd said Schneider's position changed to where none of the 10 potential signs were available. Instead, the rights to erect those signs were Premere's and if Image Media wanted any of those rights, Dowd said Schneider suggested that they be purchased from Premere.

"I told him that Premere was requesting an outrageous amount and had a deal in process with Lamar," said Michael E. Scheid in a Oct. 20, 2004 letter to Des Plaines City Attorney Dave Wiltse. Scheid is president of Chicago-based Image Media, Inc.

As it unfolded, after Premere convinced enough aldermen to approve its proposal to build 10 billboards along the Northwest and Tri-State tollways, the company sold the rights to Lamar Outdoor Advertising for a total of $10.5 million. It was apparently understood at about that time that Lamar would eventually erect five of the 10 billboards. Half of the $10.5 million Lamar paid Premere was placed in an escrow account where it would remain until Lamar decided if it would erect the remaining five. What transpired is that Lamar decided not to develop the other five billboards. The $5.25 million deposited in the escrow account has been returned to Lamar with the rights to the remaining five billboards transferred to Premere Media, Inc. Many of Premere Media's principals are the same as Premere Outdoor. Premere Media either has or is in the process of selling its billboard rights to media giant Viacom for an undisclosed price.

In his Oct. 20 letter to Wiltse, Scheid said his company has contracts to erect billboards on four sites in Des Plaines. He explained that many of the sites Premere obtained by attaining City Council approval do not meet state location requirements. Scheid added that besides his four sites, he has identified two other possible locations where billboards can be installed in Des Plaines.

"Image Media proposes to pay the City of Des Plaines a one time impact fee of $75,000 per local permit," said Scheid. He added that his company is prepared to start construction immediately.

In the city's agreement with Premere approved in May 2003, Premere offered to pay a $15,000 per sign impact fee along with a $3,000 annual inspection fee per billboard and $25,000 per year for three years to fund local fireworks displays. That is the same offer Image Media made to the city in June 2003 after learning of Premere's proposal.

"My guy was led to believe that billboards were left open to all comers," said Dowd. "He believed initially that the city would issue 10 billboard permits and he'd get a chance to get some. If he knew Premere would get all 10 he would have done something immediately. He wasn't treated equally as Premere. The question is 'why'?"

Dowd is asking city officials to restrict Premere's ability to develop signs in Des Plaines. He added that aldermen should have studied more closely the locations Premere had originally proposed to the city through public hearings. If that had occurred, Dowd explained, it is unlikely that the large billboard now in place near River Road and Higgins Avenue would have been built. That billboard has triggered much criticism from neighbors who claim they were not told that the sign would be erected leading to what they contend is a devaluation of their property.