Commission removes road-maintenance rules from land-use ordinance, keeps design-standards name change

The Kane County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Sept. 10 to remove road-maintenance provisions from a proposed amendment to the county's land-use ordinance and to proceed only with a name change to the design standards.

The action followed a lengthy discussion after the commission moved the road-policy item up on the agenda to accommodate Rick Harris, who oversees county roads. "I don't think this is the right place to put this information," Harris said, arguing that road maintenance and repair policies are operational matters for the county roads department rather than planning and zoning.

Shannon (planning staff) told commissioners the draft came from a request by the county commissioners and that she had converted a roads policy into ordinance form. She said she asked county counsel (Bert) to review the draft and that Bert inserted changes. Both Harris and Bert told the commission that including granular maintenance rules in chapter 22 could confuse the public about who to contact for road issues.

Commission discussion centered on whether placing maintenance details in the land-use code would create an extra layer of public navigation and potential misdirected inquiries to planning staff. Harris and Bert recommended keeping design standards (for road design) in planning materials while housing maintenance and operational rules in a separate roads policy and procedures document maintained by the roads department.

A motion was made to accept the "commercial performance standards and procedures" portion of the ordinance and to remove the road-maintenance language from the draft. The motion passed unanimously. The commission also required a name change to the design-standards reference in the ordinance language (subparagraph 3). The approved action will be forwarded, for further review and possible adoption, to the county commissioners as part of the ordinance revision process.

Why it matters: The commission's decision keeps technical, operational road-maintenance guidance under the purview of the roads department and preserves planning's role in specifying design standards used for development review. Planning staff said the roads policy will remain a living document and will appear in the county's roads policy and procedures so the public can find operational expectations there.

Next steps: Planning staff will forward the revised ordinance (with the design-standards name change but without maintenance provisions) to the county commissioners and county counsel for their review and any further action.