In April 2024, Forest Park’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended the council approve changes to the residential zoning code in order to more accurately reflect the current state of the village and bring hundreds of homes into conformance with the village code. Commissioners tabled code updates at a council meeting that October due to concerns about density and stormwater. And this May, commissioners voted to 2-2 with one abstention on the amendments, leaving updates to the code stalled.
Commissioners at the Dec. 15 council meeting similarly postponed a vote, tabling an ordinance amending the section of the municipal code regarding building-related codes. These include incorporating the latest editions of international, national and state building codes, residential codes, mechanical codes, fuel gas codes, fire codes and property maintenance codes.
Commissioners will vote on the ordinance again during the second meeting in January.
The village staff recommended that the council approve the building code updates, which reflect modern construction practices and safety standards. The building codes haven’t been updated in over 16 years.
“It’s something that is a necessary process here in the Village of Forest Park, something that’s long overdue,” said Ryan Nero, commissioner of public health and safety, at the Dec. 15 council meeting.
Steve Glinke, director of the department of public health and safety, sent a 40-page memo to commissioners on Friday outlining the building code changes. Nero thanked commissioners for asking questions about the memo.
“I don’t have a lot of expertise, but one of the questions that I had was our building codes should be usable and easy to use,” said Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin. “Not all of us had a chance to take a look, but I did my best.”
Melin-Rogovin moved to table the ordinance amending the building code so that all commissioners had ample time to review the proposed changes.
Nero responded that the village already spent $10,000 for professionals to review and update the building codes.
“This is something that’s done in municipalities across the state regularly to maintain those codes to the highest standards. What I’ve suggested is that we hire these companies on behalf of the village to put forth a product that keeps us consistent and competitive,” said Nero.
Both Melin-Rogovin and Commissioner Jessica Voogd said they understood the process.
“We obviously are contracting with professionals to provide us with information so that we can then do our job, which is to make sure that we are crafting appropriate policy,” Voogd said. “I need to read all this and ask questions and make sure I’m clear on something before I vote on it. I’m not comfortable having someone to say, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s all good. Let’s just move on.’”
Voogd seconded Melin-Rogovin’s motion to table the vote and requested that commissioners get at least a few weeks to review the memo.
Commissioner Maria Maxham also voted to table the ordinance, albeit reluctantly, in order to give her peers more time to review the memo on the building code updates. She did the same during the vote to table the residential zoning code.
“I’ve been in this place before, also with zoning before, where I always want to give my colleagues time to deliberate things if they feel like they haven’t had time,” Maxham said. “The last time I did this, though, the other zoning code amendments got put on hold for I don’t even know how long it’s been now. So, I will honor, once again, people’s need for more time, but I am concerned about the same thing happening again.”
Residential zoning code changes
For around two years now, the village has also been looking to update the residential zoning portion of its municipal code. The residential zoning updates aim to better align the code with existing conditions in Forest Park, decrease the number of nonconforming properties and streamline the building review process.
Last week, Glinke also sent an eight-page memo outlining the amendments to residential districts in the village zoning code and requesting that the code changes be put on the agenda at an upcoming council meeting. They were not on the agenda for the Dec. 15 meeting.
During her administrator’s report at the end of the meeting, Village Administrator Rachell Entler discussed the residential zoning code updates.
“Staff worked really hard the last several months, along with our planning consultant, to put together a memo that addresses some of the changes in the zoning code,” Entler said. “In order for us to bring this back to the council, we do have to go through the PZC [Planning and Zoning Commission] process.” She requested that commissioners get any questions about the residential zoning changes memo to her in the next couple of weeks.
As at past council meetings, Nero advocated for the residential zoning updates on Dec. 15.
“Why do we do this? We want to continue to make Forest Park attractive for many different demographics and range of incomes,” Nero said. He added that, according to the memo, the village saw a 3.4% population loss from 2020 to 2024. And that, this year, the planning commission has seen only one case, whereas it usually sees about a dozen cases annually.
“Five residents specifically have been unable to improve their non-conforming properties for over eight months, and one has just decided to leave town,” Nero said. “That’s not what we want. We want people coming to Forest Park.”
Since commissioners tabled the residential zoning changes last year, Voogd said she’s had questions about what information and data was used to inform these recommendations and requested more public outreach.
“Folks keep implying that there hasn’t been a vote on it because of the folks who tabled it. I know that I have shared examples of proper community outreach and proper zoning update protocols that other villages have used, that we could look to as an example. I know that I’ve shared my concerns. I’ve shared my questions,” Voogd said. “I would love to know what you have been doing and why it has been stalled because none of that has been addressed.”
“In the R3 [zoning district] you’re going from a 40 or 50% coverage to an 80% coverage with zero setbacks. How does the community feel about that? How does the community feel about these large structures going up, covering 80% of the land right up to the sidewalk?” Voogd added. “I have asked for the data, I’ve asked for the audits, I’ve asked for the information and what informed these recommendations, and I haven’t received them. This memo reiterates your position as written. It doesn’t address the concerns or the questions or the community outreach that we desperately need for changes as dramatic as these.”
Glinke included in the residential zoning memo that, in July 2023, village staff, the village attorney and a planning consultant from Muse sat down to prioritize redoing sections of the village code, auditing current code regulations and doing peer research. The code has been amended periodically but hasn’t been fully reviewed in decades.
With the residential changes, the planning commission held public workshops to present drafts and gather feedback in February and March 2024, then held a public hearing to take official action that April. The memo outlines the planning commission’s edits to the code. f
