Broadview zoning board fails to recommend adding prisons, detention centers after heated public hearing

The Broadview Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 18 heard a two‑hour public hearing on a proposed text amendment that would add "prisons and detention centers" as a special‑use land use in the village’s OI (office and industrial) district. David Upshaw, the village building commissioner, presented the draft changes and pointed to three packet locations where edits would be inserted (pages 17, 38 and 59).

Upshaw said the amendment would: require a special‑use permit for prisons and detention centers; require secure fencing and a secure gate that do not encroach on public property; require at least one parking space per employee/contractor/officer and parking for buses or other transport used to move detainees; prohibit siting a new prison/detention center within 1,000 feet of residential districts, schools, day‑care centers, cemeteries, park districts, forest preserves, senior‑living facilities and public housing; and require a minimum 750‑foot setback from places of religious worship.

The hearing drew a strong turnout and sustained…