Unusual deliberation meeting includes court reporter
By Dan McLeister for The Elmhurst Independent
In an unusual deliberation meeting on February 9th, the Zoning and Planning Commission (ZPC) rejected an expansion plan for the Elmhurst Extended Care facility on Lake Street east of York Street.
The next step is for three aldermen on the Development, Planning and Zoning (DPZ) to review the report of the ZPC, which is an advisory body, and either support the ZPC report or reject the ZPC report. Then the DPZ report will be sent to the City Council, which has the final vote.
The negative ZPC vote could be reversed as it was in a recent application for a day care center on York St. just south of City Hall.
It was unusual for the applicant to pay for a court reporter to provide a written transcript of the ZPC deliberation discussion. Normally a court reporter is paid by the City to provide a written transcript for a public hearing by the ZPC, but not for a deliberation.
Also, it was unusual for Commissioner Lisa Calloway to ask to take a five-minute break after about an hour of discussion. She had proposed three stipulations about the hours of operation for a parking lot, a gate guarded parking lot and additional landscaping needed. That motion was defeated by a 4-3vote.
After the votes, Acting Chairman Frank Mushow commented, “at least nobody jumped across the table.”
In a 5-2 vote, the commissioners agreed with nearby residents of the area that among other things the expansion could negatively affect property values of nearby houses. The other positive votes came from Kurt Warnke.
The negative votes came from Dan Corrado, Susan McCoyd, Susan Rose, Jordon Uditsky and Mushow. Chairman Darrell Whistler and Dave Garland did not attend the February 9th meeting.
Uditsky stated that although the applicant made a strong effort to reduce the impact of the expansion, commissioners have to listen to the people in the neighborhood.
“It is very much in the eye of the beholder. You cannot tell me that it would not affect property values.”
Rose, who said she had walked the block, commented that, “I don’t think the petitioner made a case. It is disturbing to me that the three lots are in the middle of the block.”
Calloway said she would argue the opposite that the petitioner was careful to make the expansion fit in with the neighborhood.
“If I lived next door (to the expansion), I would not have a problem.”
The petitioner had purchased three single family homes and torn them down. The existing facility had been on the site since 1961.
The petitioner’s attorney, Scott Day of Naperville, stated that the nursing home is a residential use.
