Hinsdale trustees adopt landscaping rules, create valet code, terminate SSA process and approve public-safety purchases

The Hinsdale Board of Trustees on Tuesday adopted a major update to the village’s landscaping, screening and buffering rules, added a new village code chapter to license valet services, voted to terminate the Special Service Area (SSA) No. 15 process pending federal funding, and approved purchases and emergency repairs for village emergency vehicles.

Those actions — taken during the board’s Jan. 21 meeting at Hinsdale Village Hall — included a yearlong rewrite of zoning code landscaping standards, a new $700-a-year (CPI-indexed) valet registration for restaurants, and the termination of the SSA process after the expected federal grant did not clear before Congress delayed most appropriations until March. Trustees also approved procurement steps to acquire a replacement ambulance using a $375,000 state grant and voted to authorize emergency repairs for a fire engine.

Why it matters: the landscaping code change and published screening guidelines set new minimums for buffers between commercial development and residences across Hinsdale; the valet licensing ordinance creates the village’s first specific regulatory framework for restaurant valets; and the SSA termination pauses a planned street-improvement financing mechanism while funding is uncertain. The ambulance decision addresses a multi-year vehicle backlog that could otherwise delay emergency-service capacity.

Most important actions and context

Landscaping, screening and buffers (ordinance amendment) The board approved an ordinance amending section 9-107 of the Hinsdale zoning code and adopted separate landscape screening and buffer design guidelines prepared with consultant Tesla Associates. Key changes include: starting buffer plantings at an 8-foot mature height (with an option to reduce to 6 feet where staff or the board find it warranted), clearer language about parking-lot screening (including allowance for knee walls), and raising required caliper for newly planted trees from 2.5 inches to 3 inches. The staff-authored guidelines will be posted online as a nonbinding, user-friendly interpretation; the code text remains controlling where there is any conflict.

Trustees…