Palos Park Mayor Nicole Milovich-Walters speaks about zoning codes at the March 25 council meeting. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)
Palos Park to tweak outdated village zoning codes
By Jeff Vorva
The village of Palos Park has no grand plan to change the village landscape.
But officials want to modernize some of its zoning codes.
“The village has not comprehensively updated its development regulations since 1960,” Mayor Nicole Milovich-Walters said at the March 25 village council meeting. “Due to this, there are many portions of the code that are antiquated and do not meet current standards for land use regulations or best practices.”
Last April, the council hired Chicago-based Camiros Ltd. for a code update project.
In recent weeks, citizens have expressed concerns about the direction Palos Park may be going in by changing the codes.
“People were concerned about condos and townhouses popping out of nowhere,” Building and Public Property Commissioner Mike Wade said after the meeting. “They were worried that there were three acres next to them and boom, boom, boom.”
“That’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Milovich-Walters said. “It’s just a cleaning up of the codes. It’s a little scary that it hasn’t been done since 1960.”
The mayor is eyeing late 2024 as the completion of the updates suggested by Camiros. She said there currently are no formal code changes in the works.
“Prior to final adoption of any updates, a public hearing before the Plan Commission will be held,” she said. “That body will make recommendations to the Village Council who will ultimately adopt the code.”
“We’re not going to do anything until we hear from the public,” Wade said. “The process is working. When we hear from the residents, the process works. We’re not going to do something that we don’t deem is the right vision for the village moving forward.
“We’ll make sure we cross the ‘t’s and dot it ‘i’s before it’s all done.”
Other business
- The council passed a resolution to close a portion of McCarthy Road for the annual parade on Sept. 21 as a part of the village’s Autumn in the Park event. The road will be closed from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- The council agreed to a proposal from Flow-technics for $11,796 to purchase a new sewage pump for the Kimber Trails lift station.
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