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Five hour Plan Commission meetings in Hinsdale are soon to be a thing of the past.
On Tuesday Village President Tom Cauley reiterated his plan to have the Hinsdale Plan Commission schedule two meetings a month instead of one, and to establish end times for meetings.
“The last Plan Commission meeting on Dec. 9 went until almost 1 a.m., and no good decisions can be made that late at night,” Cauley said.
During the Dec. 9 meeting, a discussion regarding the possibility of allowing small generators in side yards took more than 90 minutes. After a brief recess, the meeting resumed with a more than three hour public hearing on Adventist Hinsdale Hospital’s plans to add onto its existing site.
More than 90 minutes of public comment was related to the hospital’s plan to add a helistop to the top of the existing parking deck at the site.
After some deliberation — and shortly before 1 a.m. — the commission decided to continue the public hearing Jan. 13.
More than 80 people attended the meeting, and at least half stayed until it was over.
“What I would like to see done is to place a hard stop on meetings of 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m., and consider going to two Plan Commission meetings a month,” Cauley said.
The Plan Commission normally meets once a month and has the authority to schedule special meetings for specific topics.
The village’s Web site calendar currently lists Plan Commission meetings twice a month, although the decision is not set in stone yet, according to Neale Byrnes, commission chairman.
“It may be a bit premature to say we are going to two meetings a month, although it shows up on our calendar at this time,” Byrnes said. “I think part of the reason for going to twice a month is due to the coming review of the zoning code re-write the commission will review.”
Byrnes and Cauley both said the zoning re-write may not be addressed in January, and are not sure when it will make it to the Plan Commission.
“We need to make plans now how to handle full agendas because the zoning code rewrite likely will require meetings devoted only to that topic,” said Cauley.
One option, Cauley said, is to schedule two monthly meetings and cancel one if there is no business to discuss.
A decision on whether or not the commission will conduct its Jan. 27 meeting likely will be made the week prior to the meeting, Byrnes said.
Five hour Plan Commission meetings in Hinsdale are soon to be a thing of the past.
On Tuesday Village President Tom Cauley reiterated his plan to have the Hinsdale Plan Commission schedule two meetings a month instead of one, and to establish end times for meetings.
“The last Plan Commission meeting on Dec. 9 went until almost 1 a.m., and no good decisions can be made that late at night,” Cauley said.
During the Dec. 9 meeting, a discussion regarding the possibility of allowing small generators in side yards took more than 90 minutes. After a brief recess, the meeting resumed with a more than three hour public hearing on Adventist Hinsdale Hospital’s plans to add onto its existing site.
More than 90 minutes of public comment was related to the hospital’s plan to add a helistop to the top of the existing parking deck at the site.
After some deliberation — and shortly before 1 a.m. — the commission decided to continue the public hearing Jan. 13.
More than 80 people attended the meeting, and at least half stayed until it was over.
“What I would like to see done is to place a hard stop on meetings of 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m., and consider going to two Plan Commission meetings a month,” Cauley said.
The Plan Commission normally meets once a month and has the authority to schedule special meetings for specific topics.
The village’s Web site calendar currently lists Plan Commission meetings twice a month, although the decision is not set in stone yet, according to Neale Byrnes, commission chairman.
“It may be a bit premature to say we are going to two meetings a month, although it shows up on our calendar at this time,” Byrnes said. “I think part of the reason for going to twice a month is due to the coming review of the zoning code re-write the commission will review.”
Byrnes and Cauley both said the zoning re-write may not be addressed in January, and are not sure when it will make it to the Plan Commission.
“We need to make plans now how to handle full agendas because the zoning code rewrite likely will require meetings devoted only to that topic,” said Cauley.
One option, Cauley said, is to schedule two monthly meetings and cancel one if there is no business to discuss.
A decision on whether or not the commission will conduct its Jan. 27 meeting likely will be made the week prior to the meeting, Byrnes said.
As for the Jan. 13 meeting, there is no way to tell how long the re-opened public hearing on the hospital’s plans will take to complete.
“I am guessing it won’t be hours and hours and hours,” Byrnes said.
Hinsdale Hospital officials said they will bring back the experts who made presentations at the Dec. 9 meeting and will also be there to respond to questions from the public and commissioners.
David Crane, CEO, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, said officials “look forward to the next step in the process.”
“We’ve strived to keep everyone informed, from near neighbors, to the entire community. We want all groups to be partners in this process,” Crane said. “The responses to the project have been very positive, and we are working with our neighbors on any concerns they have over the proposed helistop.”
Five hour Plan Commission meetings in Hinsdale are soon to be a thing of the past.
