By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
After an agonizing nail-biter for the petitioner and her supporters, the Elmhurst City Council after much debate finally approved the conditional use permit for the proposed Elmhurst Premier Childcare facility at 187-195 No. York, just south of City Hall.
At the previous week’s Zoning & Planning Committee meeting, committee member Mark Mulliner (7th Ward) and Chair Scott Levin (5th Ward) couldn’t mask their annoyance after having the measure pulled from the previous City Council meeting agenda by staff people, when the Committee felt it was ready for the vote of the full Council.
After numerous people spoke on behalf of Kasindra Mladenoff and her business model during public forum, Levin attempted to explain the course of events that had transpired over the past week. Levin and Mulliner signed the Majority Committee Report recommending approval, while the third Committee member Alderman Michael Honquest (6th Ward) had submitted a Minority Report, agreeing with City staff who were discouraging the project.
Some felt safety was the utmost concern, and while no one denies that safety is important, others on the dais pointed out the case for common sense.
“I trust the common sense of the parents in the community,” said Mulliner. “Children are the most important thing in a parent’s life — I had two myself! — and they’re going to take every possible precaution to protect their children, that’s just what parents do.”
Mulliner had previously pointed out that the building had been standing empty for the past eight years.
“I want to be safe, but I don’t want to roll up the streets and turn this into a prairie again either,” he said.
The first vote was in opposition to exchanging the Minority Report for the Majority Report. When the Majority Report was called, the vote was 9-4 with one absent (7th Ward Ald. Pat Wagner). The yea votes were from Aldermen Levin, Marti Deuter (1st), Bob Dunn (2nd), Mulliner, Noel Talluto (4th), Dannee Polomsky (3rd), Michael Bram (3rd), Jim Kennedy (6th) and Chris Healy (5th). Nay votes came from Aldermen Honquest, Norm Leader (2nd), Mark Sabatino (1st) and Kevin York (4th).
The Independent will report more in a future issue.
