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Zoning issues up for debate

Pekin Daily Times|Ken Harris|August 17, 2011
IllinoisZoning/Planning

At stake is how the local government deals with issues ranging in impact from a person wanting to move his or her garage a few inches too close to the property line, to whether the county allows a company to erect 100 wind turbines in the area.


PEKIN, Ill. - Eight years after giving away the final say over special uses and variances, the effort of some Tazewell County Board members to reclaim that authority died in committee recently, though a debate over how to most fairly serve residents continues, and a resurrection of the effort is possible in the future.

A proposal to draft an ordinance that would allow the county board final approval power over special use and variance requests floundered in the Land Use Committee after a tied vote failed to propel the idea forward. At stake is how the local government deals with issues ranging in impact from a person wanting to move his or her garage a few inches too close to the property line, to whether the county allows a company to …

... more [truncated due to possible copyright]

PEKIN, Ill. - Eight years after giving away the final say over special uses and variances, the effort of some Tazewell County Board members to reclaim that authority died in committee recently, though a debate over how to most fairly serve residents continues, and a resurrection of the effort is possible in the future.

A proposal to draft an ordinance that would allow the county board final approval power over special use and variance requests floundered in the Land Use Committee after a tied vote failed to propel the idea forward. At stake is how the local government deals with issues ranging in impact from a person wanting to move his or her garage a few inches too close to the property line, to whether the county allows a company to erect 100 wind turbines in the area.

Land Use Committee Vice-Chairman Russell Crawford led the latest effort to give the county board back the power it once gave away. He said residents should be heard by their elected officials, rather than a body of appointed officials, when it comes to an issue that can be so personally emotional to them, whether they are petitioning to be able to do something or objecting to a request.

"The two biggest issues for people are their pets when they are involved with animal control and the idea of their property, whether they think their neighbor is doing something egregious or they want to do something on their property the government won't let them do," Crawford said. "Those are very emotional issues for people."

Currently the county's Zoning Board of Appeals has sole power over the approval of special use and variance requests after the county board voted in 2003 to give the ZBA those powers while it retained the right to have the final say in zoning changes.

Before that time, the ZBA held public hearings and made a recommendation for each request, after which the Land Use Committee reviewed the material before making its own recommendation and then the County Board had the final say.
James Newman, ZBA chairman, said he believes the transfer of authority on the two types of requests was made years ago to avoid the "potential legality of conflicts." He said the ZBA is designed to be more objective than the county board, which helps to limit any possibility of facing charges of unfair practices in court.

Newman said the ZBA's disconnect from the electoral process is its advantage. He said ZBA members are not allowed to discuss requests with concerned parties before the public hearing, even when approached. He said it would likely be more difficult for an elected official to say, "I can't discuss it," which prevents "personal feelings" from getting involved in the process.

"The county set the ordinances and we are just to apply those ordinances. I think there are times when people see a benefit from voting one way or the other. I think it's just too political from the board," Newman said. "I think it ought to stay with the ZBA because I think we look at those things a little more objectively."

County Administrator David Jones said the process was changed "for a number of reasons and it has worked well."

However, Crawford said people should have a chance to be heard beyond a single ZBA meeting.

"Until 2003 we provided fairness to petitioner and objector. If you were a petitioner or objector you had three bites at the apple," Crawford said.

Multiple opportunities to be heard is especially important when it comes to deals like the Rail Splitter Wind Farm that involve millions of dollars.

Jones, who said his staff will gladly look into the issue if instructed but who did not seem supportive of switching back, said "There are all different types of opportunity for public input on any type of special use." He said he could not think of a project that was more vetted than the Rail Splitter project. The public was notified and adjoining land owners were contacted.

"The actual special use did not come to the county board for that project, that stopped with the ZBA, but other parts of the project came before the board," Jones said.

Crawford sees the current program as nothing more than a way for county board members to avoid more work. He said currently a county board member does not have to make any possibly unpopular decision about these emotional issues and can "duck and run which I find repulsive."

"There is no question that if you are a county board member that likes to have political cover, you like the new program," Crawford said.

According to Crawford, the county board can require all board members to review the full information on each request before being allowed to vote, or else the member would have to abstain due to ignorance of the issue. He added county board members are also just as ethical as ZBA members and can be held to the same ethical standards if trusted with the issues at stake.

"Any guidelines for ethics and integrity of government, I'm 100 percent for. We can extend those same guidelines and ethics to a county board member," Crawford said. "Both groups can do the right thing and both groups can do the wrong thing. If there are guidelines that work for the ZBA member, they would work for a county board member."
Copyright 2011 Pekin Daily Times. Some rights reserved
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