La Grange Planners Debate Wind Turbines, Time Constraint on Storage Units, Solar Panels

For more than two hours La Grange Plan Commission members debated proposed changes in village zoning ordinances before opting to have village staff re-examine some of the issues raised during the regular Sept. 14 meeting at village hall, 50 S. LaGrange Rd.

The board spent the evening examining amendments to village zoning ordinances surrounding single family homes. Village staff sought to provide the board with a clarification of zoning definitions and adjustments in the language of regulations dealing with hedges, fences, trellises, statuary, garages and other home concerns.

Patrick Benjamin, community development director for La Grange, said his staff is examining sections of the zoning ordinances looking for particular areas needing to be addressed due to citizen requests or changes in technology.

Angela Mesaros, assistant community development director, read off a long list of proposed changes. Some items received little discussion from the board, but several inspired much debate. One such item was front portable storage units from such companies such as PODS.

Currently there is no ordinance in La Grange dealing with the amount of time residents can have one of these units on their property. Village staff proposed the board approve an amendment that would allow a resident to have a storage unit on their property for 15 consecutive days, but no longer than 30 days in a calendar year. However, most commissioners felt that was time frame was too long, particularly Commissioner Jerry Reich.

"Load them up and get them out," Reich said of the storage units.

Commissioner Jeff Nowak wanted to know if there was a widespread problem with storage units taking up semi-permanent residence in the village.

Village attorney Mark Burkland said the issue is becoming more widespread in La Grange. He said staff believed the 15 day time frame was more than adequate for residents to work out their storage issues. Mesaros told the board that 15 days is a standard time frame across many Chicagoland communities.

Reich though thought 15 days was "excessive." He said people should be able to load up the storage units much quicker and have them removed to a remote storage area. Reich said if the storage units are not removed quickly, they become an eyesore in the neighborhood. He convinced the other board members to support reducing the 15 day time frame to 10 days.

Another area that commissioners readily agreed was prohibiting wind turbines on residential property. Commissioners said the turbines make too much noise for a residential area. Also the height of the turbines would be prohibited by zoning ordinances, so they would not generate electricity.

One proposal the board wants to re-examine is hedges near the end of residential drive ways. Board members wanted staff to broaden the definition of hedges to include any large foliage that could obscure a driver's vision.

Some ordinance areas the commissioners wanted to revisit include gazebos, flag poles in front yards, solar panels and the size of yard signs for real estate agents.

The board will revisit the proposed amendments at the Nov, 9 meeting. If the proposal is approved the entire packet of zoning amendments will be sent to the village trustees for approval.

Burkland said it was better to present the trustees with a final product rather than offer them zoning amendments in a piece-meal fashion.