08/10/2010 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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? I Minutes of a Public Hearing On Proposed Charter Review Revisions 8-10-10 Page 13 The two Charter amendments that concern us are the one dealing with zoning and also the one dealing with measures subject to referendum. Article III, Section 12 and 13 of the current Charter are those that deal with zoning. Under Article III, Section 12 of the current Charter, any amendment or repeal of existing zoning and that would include a planning ordinance, a zoning map of the Village, zoning or use classifications of districts, building height restrictions, the size of parcels in zoning or use classifications and the percentage of lot occupancy, so any amendment or an appeal to that kind of existing zoning which has been approved by the Council shall be submitted to a vote of the electors of the Municipality, that's you and me, shall become effective only upon approval thereof by the electors in accordance with Section 13 and we will just go through the mechanics of that. Under the proposed Charter amendment, 2010-24, Section 12 of the proposal completely eliminates the obligation of Council to submit any zoning changes to a vote before it becomes law. I'm not talking about referendum rights which may come later. But Council under this proposal would not have to submit to the voters any zoning change before it could be enacted. So under this proposal, if Council for some reason decides to vote to line your streets with bars, with box stores, multi-family residential units or any other use, or if they were to vote to allow retail establishments or condominiums in spaces smaller than that which is currently permitted, then they can do so without first seeking approval of the voters. Section 13 of this proposal states that Council may put such a zoning change to vote if in its sole and exclusive discretion it chooses to do so. In other words, Council can change zoning in any way it desires without your first vote. You may see another proposed Charter amendment. There is one circulating. I do not know where it's going to end up. That is being presented as a compromise position and it's not much of a compromise to some of us. I do not know if you will see it or not, but under that it says that you cannot vote on changes in zoning first except with respect to resolutions relating to single- family residential zoned property. So under that proposal you would not have the right to vote on zoning changes concerning property zoned as two-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial or industrial. If for example you live in or next to an area zoned for two-family residential or apartments or condominiums, those uses could be changed to commercial or industrial or from two-family to multi-family without your consent. Under the current Charter, you have a say in these matters via your vote. Under this proposal, you would not. I caution you that if you happen to see on the ballot two different proposed Charter amendments to the same provisions of the Charter, you don't have to choose between one or the other. You can vote no on both of them. You can keep your right to vote intact. If you care about your land and your property, if that's important to you, if you have a lot of your investment tied up in there, then I would consider this very strongly.