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Licensed family child-care provider asks council to align local zoning with DCFS rules after text-amendment denial
Summary
A Downers Grove licensed family child-care provider said zoning enforcement recently cited an eight-child maximum despite her DCFS license for up to 16; she paid $670 to request an ordinance text amendment, said the Planning & Zoning Commission initially recommended approval, and urged council for follow-up after a denial at a council hearing.
A licensed family child-care operator (identified in public comment as Lori Lia, 9006 Oxford Street) told the council she has operated a group family child-care home for 26 years, 19 of them inside Downers Grove. She said village zoning staff recently informed her that local zoning limits group child-care homes to eight children, while her DCFS license previously allowed up to 16. Facing immediate enforcement after a neighbor noise complaint, she paid $670 to file a text-amendment request asking the village to update its ordinance.
Lia told the council the Planning & Zoning Commission previously held a three-hour hearing with many supporters and recommended approval of her text-amendment request to proceed to the council. She said at the subsequent council hearing a motion to deny the amendment was made and seconded before she could begin, and the council voted to deny the request. Lia said she received no follow-up phone calls from the village despite councilmembers expressing interest in further discussion during that hearing.
Lia described DCFS licensing constraints that limit immediate termination of enrolled children and stressed the trauma and disruption that removing families from care would cause. She urged council to consider a process to update the local zoning ordinance to align with DCFS licensing, citing regional practice among neighboring towns and asking for a clear path to preserve affordable local small-group child care.
Council did not take formal action on a new text amendment at this meeting; her testimony was recorded during the public-comment portion. Lia asked what the process would be to move forward and requested follow-up from staff or council to help keep local child care available and compliant.
Clarifying details: Lia said she paid a $670 fee to submit the text-amendment request and asserted she had been operating with up to 16 children for decades until the recent complaint. She said Planning & Zoning had recommended advancing the amendment to the council but that the council denied it at the second hearing at which she presented.
