Villa Park trustees approve overhaul of advisory commissions amid public pushback

Villa Park trustees voted July 28 to dissolve several existing advisory commissions and create new commissions intended to realign volunteer work with the village’s strategic priorities.

The board approved ordinances to replace the Economic Development Commission with the Villa Park Growth Commission, to dissolve and reconfigure the Parks & Recreation and Environmental Concerns commissions into a Garden Village Commission and a Community Recreation Commission, to split the Planning and Zoning Commission into a Plan Commission and a Zoning Board of Appeals, and to dissolve the Traffic & Safety Commission, the Video Production Commission and the Special Events Review Committee. The votes followed nearly three hours of public comment and extended debate among trustees.

Why it matters: Trustees and the village president said the restructuring is intended to modernize how volunteers advise the board and to better align commissions with the village’s comprehensive plan. Opponents say the process was rushed, will discard institutional knowledge, and was implemented without an open volunteer application and transition timeline.

At the start of the public-comment period dozens of residents urged the board to delay or revise the proposals. Ivan Figueroa, who described himself as a former junior commissioner, told the board that dissolving the Environmental Concerns Commission would “erase the voices of young and communities like mine.” Jason Jarrett, chair of the existing Planning and Zoning Commission, urged a delayed effective date so current cases could be concluded: “If the board is dead set on passing this ordinance as it appears to be, I would recommend the board set an effective date that allows the current planning and zoning…