April 26, 2005

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

When I was at the April 16 Coffee with the Council, I brought up the fact that eight months ago, the village held a Community Dialogue at the Downers Grove South High School.  Approximately 150 residents attended and just about everyone voiced a desire for the village to do something about the teardowns, wrap-arounds and lot splits happening all over the village.  Complaints were voiced that large houses that covered most of the lot and towered over other houses in the area were inconsistent with and replacing typical neighborhood homes.

We've heard rumblings that the village was going to appoint an Architectural Commission to develop an ordinance that would put creation of these monstrosities in our neighborhoods to an end.  Eight months have passed and this commission has yet to go beyond being just a name.  I asked which commissioner was assigned to interview residents and recommend who would be seated on this commission.  The answer was the mayor has decided he would select who would be seated on the commission.

OK, I understand the mayor has lists of many Downers Grove residents who have requested assignment to a board or commission.  It shouldn't be too difficult to find two qualified residents in each of the fields of architecture, engineering, builders, real estate, heritage preservationists and maybe code enforcement for seating on the commission.  The chairman of this commission should not be someone from code enforcement.  The ball is in the mayor's court - let's play ball before the village is in a bigger mess.

I also asked what is being done about revising zoning ordinances to put a stop to lot-line-to-lot-line building, which cover most of a lot; reasonable codes that don='t include basements as living areas; and pointless floor-area-ratios.  Lombard doesn't use floor-area-ratios, but it does restrict a building's size such that it covers no greater than 50% of the lot.  This gives more latitude to the design of the house while providing for better storm water control.

I didn't get a satisfactory answer, so I suggested a special commission be appointed to revise the zoning codes.  Much to my surprise a member of the council said that "commissions are costly because there would have to be a meeting room where the lights would have to be turned on and someone would have to take and publish meeting minutes".  I was flabbergasted at this statement;  it was too humorous for me to be insulted.  Is this how one member of the council regards residents - as really stupid?

The few dollars for an evening's electricity as well as a few hundred dollars for someone to take and publish minutes doesn't compare with an evening's electric bill for the parking deck.  Furthermore, how does a few hundred dollars compare with the value of residents seated on a commission who normally earn an average of hundreds of dollars an hour in their normal professions, which could easily total several thousand dollars for an evening?  I'd say the village is getting the better part of the commission bargain, and the entire village would benefit immensely.

Andrew J. Clark, Downers Grove, IL

Click here to re-display the home page.