A Policy Question

DEKALB COUNTY ZONING ORDINANCE CHANGES
Should zoning laws be determined by administrative staff or elected leaders?

On December 16, 2004, an open hearing on proposed changes to the DeKalb County zoning ordinance was held at the Gatheratorium in Sycamore. Local attorney Ron Klein served as Hearing Officer and moderated an almost four hour meeting that included 17 speakers from an audience of about 80 citizens.

Two of those speakers; Peter Barick (Sycamore) and Jack Bennet (DeKalb) spoke in full support of the proposed changes that include rezoning all land in unincorporated DeKalb County to A-1 Agriculture while "grandfathering" existing property currently zoned Residential and Commercial by deeming such property "legal non-comforming." Mr. Barick is a founding member of the Sycamore slow-growth advocacy group CARE. Mr. Bennet is the director of the DeKalb County Farmland Preservation Association (DCFPA). The proposed changes also received written support from the DCFPA, the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, and from the Professional Planners from the City of DeKalb.

Fifteen speakers, including farmers, rural residents, rural business operators, developers, lawyers, realtors, mortgage lenders and a title company president expressed concerns and opposition to the rendering of existing property to legal non-conforming. The hearing officer also received eight letters from local residents and organizations to all or part of the proposed zoning changes. Individual county board members have also received email correspondence regarding concerns with the changes.

On December 24, 2004, Klein submitted his written recommendation on the matter to the DeKalb County Board. The nine page document has yet to be posted on the DeKalb County Government website for public review.

The Hearing Officer recommended that the County Board approve the changes to the zoning ordinance subject to reservations expressed in his report. Klein believes, based on his experience, that zoning existing parcels to "legal non-conforming" is a substantial problem that could adversely affect the property rights of existing land owners. He recommends that "some identifying label or designation other than merely 'legal non-conforming' be given to properties to help alleviate the potential problems mentioned above."

Klein also believes the public has had ample time to have had the proposed changes fully and fairly explained to them and that the public has had adequate opportunity for input. Again Klein's recommendation has yet to be posted on the county's website, nor has zoning director Paul Miller's memorandum dated December 3, 2004 which, according to Klein, are responses to questions raised by the public at the three open houses.

Mr. Miller dismisses concerns expressed by professionals in the legal, real estate, mortgage lending and title insurance industry based on his conversations with experts, he does not feel comfortable naming, who have told him that legal non-conforming status will have no implications on a borrower's need for financing. He stated that a problem might occur in one of a hundred cases. It would be of service to name those bank presidents and experts who made such statements. If an affected legal non-conforming landowner ran into difficulty there would be a known source for funding.

A huge policy question was raised at the public hearing. In response to a request that the proposed changes be put before the public in the form of a referendum, Miller stated that zoning was a function of paid administrative staff and not legislative. Several were not comfortable upon learning that the rights of property owners were at the mercy of paid administrators not subject to the will of voters.

Local attorney, Jordan Gallagher (Sycamore) stated that he strongly believed that zoning is a legislative function, not an administrative function. Former county board member Joe Weigand (Fairdale) also took exception noting that the proposed changes appeared to be staff-driven and not policy set forth by elected officials. Wiegand also recited a case in another state where a 40-year business, similarly "grandfathered" as legal non-conforming, was forced by its city government to remove the business after two years. The case was appealed and the courts ruled in favor of the city.

The next step in this process is a public meeting of the DeKalb County Planning and Zoning Committee held at the Legislative Center at 7PM on Wednesday, January 26, 2005. Citizens are allowed to address the committee at this meeting. The citizens have a right to know whether staff recommendations hold a higher priority with elected officials than the needs of the voters and property owners.

Newly Elected Board Members

LARRY A. ANDERSON- District 1
(Republican)
815-825-2134

ANITA JO TURNER District 4
(Democrat)
(815) 895-7507

JEFF WHELAN District 9
(Democrat)
(815) 758-4664

Marlene D. Allen Home: 815-786-2069	12/R
Sally DeFauw Home: 815-758-0369 e-mail:	7/D
Eileen Dubin Home: 815-756-9103 e-mail:	8/D
Stephen M. Faivre Home: 815-784-4239 e-mail:	2/D
Vince R. Faivre Home: 815-758-5301 email:	11/R
Julia L. Fauci Home: 815 -758-4195 e-mail:	9/D
Julia Fullerton Home: 815-756-7876 e-mail:	8/R
John Gudmunson Home: 815 -498-2280 e-mail:	11/R
Eric J. Johnson Work: 815-753-0483 e-mail:	6/R
Patricia LaVigne Work: 815-758-8282 e-mail:	10/R
Sue Leifheit Home: 815-895-4051 Work: 815-756-2504 e-mail:	4/R
Howard J. Lyle Work: 815-784-2271 Home: 815-784-5854 email:	2/R
James R. MacMurdo Home: 815-758-2611 e-mail:	9R
Jeffery Metzger Home: 815-786-1591 Work: 630-786-1591 e-mail:	12/R
Richard Osborne Home: 815-754-9650 e-mail:	5/D
Robert Rosemier Home: 815-758-7317 e-mail:	5/D
Dennis Sands Home: 815-824-2290 e-mail: or	1/R
Stephen A. Slack Home: 815-895-2741 e-mail:	3/D
Roger Steimel Home/Work: 815-756-5092 e-mail:	3/R
Ruth Anne Tobias Work: 815-753-0922 Home: 815-766-2707 e-mail:	6/D
Franklin D. Van Buer 815-756-8677 e-mail:	7/D
Patricia S. Vary 815-787-2502 e-mail:	10/D
Joseph M. Wiegand Home: 815-522-3801 e-mail:	1/R
John A. Wilson Home/Work: 815-895-3018 Cell - 815-739-3040 e-mail:	4/R