DuPage committee asks staff to draft text amendment to measure 1,000-foot gaming buffer door-to-door

During discussion about video gaming regulation, members repeatedly raised concerns about the county's current 1,000-foot measurement, which staff described as property-line to property-line. Several members said a door-to-door (business-to-business) standard would better reflect the intent of keeping gaming away from schools and day cares. Chair Tornatore said that changing the measurement would require a text amendment and a public hearing by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) before any county board action.

The chair sought the committee's direction to have staff draft language for the proposed change. He said, in effect, that if the committee's consensus was to change the thousand feet from property line to business-to-business they could "put that on the next development committee agenda to direct the zoning board of appeals to take it up as a text amendment." Multiple members voiced agreement; the chair instructed staff to prepare draft language and to ensure the text "goes across the t's and eyes" before formal referral.

Staff and members also clarified that the text amendment would apply to new applicants going forward and would not be retroactive to businesses already grandfathered by the state's attorney determination. The committee discussed timing and asked staff to place the draft on the next agenda; staff indicated it would then go to the ZBA for public hearing and, if approved by ZBA, be forwarded to the county board for final action.

Next steps: Planning/zoning staff to draft amendment language and place it on the next Development Committee agenda for referral to the ZBA. The committee recorded an oral consensus to pursue the draft and referral process, and the chair closed the discussion by asking staff to prepare the proposed language.