Don’t Let That Olive Branch Poke You in the Eye - Written by Dolly Elliott Pointner - Last month Village of Winfield Trustees appeared to be working toward a compromise with regard to Roosevelt Road when all but one trustee agreed to postpone the consideration of repealing the recent B-1 re-zoning until receiving a professional recommendation from the Village’s comprehensive plan consultant, which is expected in November. The staying power of the compromise proved fleeting when Trustees Jack Bajor and James McCurdy asked that the repeal of the zoning be reconsidered just days before the Aug. 1 Village Board meeting. A last minute agenda change was the only notice that some trustees, affected property owners, and Village residents were given that the repeal of the B-1 zoning was back on the table. Trustee Tony Reyes stated at the Aug. 1 meeting, “I think what is really going on here is a blatant disregard for finding a solution other than raising taxes on the residents of Winfield. We sent an olive branch across the table, you accepted it, now you are reneging because you got spanked by your folks that helped you get elected.” In defense of asking for the reconsideration, Bajor admitted “It was done in the wrong manner, certainly not sensitive to adjacent property owners.” One resident, Heidi Vollmuth, stated during public comments that Bajor should recuse himself from the vote to repeal as he had recused himself from the original zoning vote. Bajor’s primary residence is adjacent to properties that were re-zoned. McCurdy stated that the repeal needed to be considered because “It was set up illegally to begin with in the first place. I want to wipe those sheets clean, and I want to start all over again.” Trustee James Hughes conceded, “You are right. It had a bad beginning.” However, Hughes went on to explain that the real genesis of the current problems went back to more than a year ago and took the entry of a mandatory court order forcing the then Village President to put the re-zoning of Roosevelt Road properties on a Village Board agenda for a vote after months of refusing to do so despite Village Trustees having properly requested that the matter be placed on the agenda. Hughes remarked that because of the previous dysfunction, he heard his fellow board members and “tried to find a consensus and something that keeps our town from being sued again.” The repeal of the B-1 zoning passed on Aug. 1 with a split 3/3 vote, with President Erik Spande breaking the tie in favor of repealing the re-zoning. According to property owners whose zoning was affected by this action, they were not contacted by Village staff to notify them of the repeal. Several of them came together to hire legal counsel, but a complaint has yet to be filed. Community Development Director Peter Krummins stated during the Aug. 15 meeting that “all re-zonings need to go through the plan commission” to which Trustee Hughes stated that it was clear that the repeal did not follow the right process in that it was never sent to the plan commission and a public hearing was never held. The Aug. 15 meeting only added salt to the wounds with significant discussions regarding the zoning of the former Viking/Morgan’s Restaurant on Roosevelt Road. Banco Popular currently owns this property and desired changing the zoning from residential zoning (R4-B with a special use) to B-1. The history of this business operating in a residential zoning district dates back more than 50 years and the controversy resulted in Banco Popular asking for an amendment to the special use rather than for a change to B-1 zoning. Trustee Hughes stated at the Aug. 15 meeting, “It is too bad that we can’t put our big boy pants on and actually have the discussion.” He said that until we can do this, “owners aren’t going to do this and neither is a new developer.” Further, he stated that we are not going to see anything change on Roosevelt Road until we can “grow up a little bit as a town together to be able to zone a business a business and be able to trust that it is not going to ruin the neighborhood.” Dolly Elliott Pointner villagechronicles.net/home/item/3132-don%E2%80%99t-let-that-olive-branch-poke-you-in-the-eye
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:51:37 +0000
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