Palos Park plan commission reopens public hearing on comprehensive zoning update after residents object to small-lot rules and Western Growth Area overlay

PALOS PARK, Ill. The Palos Park Plan Commission reopened a public hearing Nov. 6 on a proposed comprehensive update to the villagezoning code and several attendant zoning-map changes, hearing a lengthy consultant presentation followed by more than two hours of public comment before continuing the hearing to Dec. 18.

The draft code, prepared by Camaros zoning consultants, reorganizes and modernizes definitions and district rules, adds an "open space" and an "institutional" district, clarifies use tables and planned-unit-development (PUD) procedures, and proposes map changes such as applying a Western Growth Area (WGA) overlay to several properties west of Bell Road. After public comment, commissioners voted to continue the public hearing to Dec. 18 for further review.

Why it matters: the rewrite would reset how the village defines allowable uses, measures building size and coverage, and treats smaller, older lots. Residents and neighboring property owners told the commission the changes as drafted could allow smaller "legacy" homes, broaden the range of commercial and social-service uses in districts now labeled open space or institutional, and make it easier to pursue large PUD projects in the WGA.

The consultant presentation Arista Strunges, principal and partner at Camaros, summarized the work that produced the public-hearing draft. "My name is Arista Strunges. I am the principal and partner at Camaros. We're a zoning firm located in Chicago, Illinois," she told the commission, then reviewed the draft's organization: consolidated definitions and measurement rules; a new, clearer use table; site standards for accessory structures, parking and landscaping; and a single, consolidated PUD article intended to simplify review procedures.

Strunges said the draft attempts to preserve the current R-1…