The Village Board voted 5-0 to waive rezoning application fees and associated planning deposits for properties at 4822 and 4834 Baseline Road, allowing the owners to apply to rezone the parcels after a prior comprehensive zoning update changed their designation to manufacturing.

The board approved the waiver after Director Epp told trustees the two parcels were rezoned when the village adopted the Unified Development Ordinance, and staff does not expect engineering review or large out-of-pocket costs for the rezoning applications. Director Epp said the standard rezoning application fee is $600 and the typical planning deposit is $2,000; staff estimated the village’s out-of-pocket costs would likely not exceed about $1,500 per property for publication and legal review. The motion to waive fees applied to both the $600 application fees and the planning deposits for the two properties.

Why it matters: the two properties were changed from residential to manufacturing as part of the village’s comprehensive rezoning tied to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Property owners who believe their parcels were rezoned inadvertently sought relief from the application and deposit costs so they could seek rezoning back to residential without the usual up-front expense.

Board discussion focused on whether the rezoning was intended and on the cost impact to owners. Director Epp said the village had mailed a courtesy notice about the rezoning to more than 60 property owners by regular (noncertified) mail; the owners say they did not recall receiving that notice. Epp described the likely costs as primarily newspaper publication fees (about several hundred dollars) and legal review of notices and ordinances.

Trustees expressed concern that owners should not bear the cost if the rezoning was an unintended consequence of the UDO adoption. After discussion, Trustee Youngerman moved to waive the fees for both properties and Trustee Brzoska seconded. A roll call confirmed five yes votes (Trustees Marasek, Brzoska, Geier, Sperling and Youngerman) and the motion carried 5-0.

The waiver covers both the $600 rezoning application fee for each parcel and the planning deposit; the board did not set a separate dollar reimbursement figure beyond the waived fees. The village staff said any future actual out-of-pocket invoiced costs (for example, publication or legal work) are expected to be modest given the lack of engineering review on these particular rezoning requests.

Next steps: with fees waived, the property owners may submit formal rezoning applications under whatever application requirements the village now imposes for such requests. No additional ordinance or formal policy change was adopted; the action was limited to waiving the fees for these two specific parcels.