Brief update on tonight's (9/5) Board meeting

Village Board officials, including a majority of Trustees and the Village Planner, have responded to e-mails from a number of us. (Thank you for writing to them!) They have stated that, despite the language in the new draft ordinances, they do not intend to remove the requirement for a two-thirds Board vote to overturn the Plan Commission. These statements are reassuring, but the troubling language remains in the draft. We have written to the trustees that it is important to amend the proposed new ordinances tonight, to clearly state the 2/3 rule for planned developments, as is done in other sections of the ordinances, and not leave it up to interpretation. At least two trustees have indicated they will support a motion to do that. There has been less discussion so far about the proposed removal of the two-year waiting period for resubmitting a rejected planned development proposal. That remains an open question. There has also been some clarification about the motion to establish 125-foot height limits downtown. The explanation offered is that there are already some 125-foot zones in downtown, and the new map slightly reduces the area covered by that. However, many of us believe that no part of downtown should have greater than 80 feet as the maximum a developer can build without getting approval from the Plan Commission and Board of Trustees. Trustee Simone Boutet has expressed interest in proposing that change. Let’s keep a careful eye on this, including at tonight’s meeting. Josh