We are genuinely puzzled that a year-long effort to update Forest Park’s residential zoning code has effectively failed. At a village council meeting in late May, two commissioners voted to approve the changes, the mayor and another commissioner voted no and the fifth person, Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin oddly chose to abstain from voting at all.
The outcome then was to defeat the proposal which had been well vetted by the planning and zoning commission and a village-hired consultant and then batted about by a village council and mayor who seem happiest when accomplishing nothing.
The changes proposed in this process are notable and necessary but not in any way radical. The objections raised by Commissioners Melin-Rogovin and Jessica Voogd are, while specific, off point. Both are focused on flooding issues which can be addressed on a permit-by-permit basis as new projects come forward. And their worries about increased density are just wrong-headed. Forest Park, within the reasonable bounds of this proposal, will benefit from some additional density. It will increase a declining population and boost badly needed property tax revenues.
Forest Park is an inner-ring suburb with the assets of multiple rail lines, adjacency to downtown Chicago and high walkability. We are built for added density. And we should embrace it.
Mayor Rory Hoskins’ decision to oppose the measure is beyond frustrating. “Given the fact that there wasn’t more unanimity among the council, I wouldn’t want to see something like that be implemented. I wasn’t going to cast a tie-breaking vote for changes of that nature,” he told the Review.
We’ve heard the “tie-breaking vote” argument from mayors and village presidents before. We don’t buy it. Hoskins was elected just like the other commissioners to make decisions. He has one vote and he ought to use it.
More basically though, we are in this mess because of Hoskins’ infuriating lack of leadership. Updating, repairing Forest Park’s long-flawed residential zoning has to be a priority for the village. They’ve spent a year or more working away at it using the appropriate tools of the zoning commission and the consultant Muse. Inevitably it was headed to the village council for a decision.
As has become usual, Hoskins’ direction to the commissioners was to go talk among themselves (without violating the Open Meetings Act). That is not leadership. That is an abdication of leadership.
So what is next? If this council has the gumption to revisit this important issue, it will mean fully starting over. Back to the planning and zoning commission, restarting community engagement efforts and then back to the council.
No reason to bother if our elected officials cannot decide on their priorities and our mayor can’t articulate a vision for zoning in Forest Park.