For what it's worth, Atlanta used to have a spectacular restaurant in a former church.
Mike Quinn

Please contact the City of Naperville's Planning Dept., if you haven't already. Their main phone number is: 630/420-6111. They had an old church in their downtown, and I know it has been used by clubs and other uses. Another community that values it's historic, old structures is the City of Geneva. Maybe they have some ideas. I hope you can keep the beautiful old structure, and not lose it. Good luck!
Arlene Kollar, AICP, Village of Addison

... given my experience with adaptive reuse of institutional uses, each case brings its own set of unique circumstances to the table - location, physical layout, building condition, parking availability, etc. ... while the underlying zoning is certainly the starting point, I would initially recommend treating each case as a conditional use within the regulatory confines of the R2 district, and working with your elected officials and possibly, local neighborhood/community leaders, adopt some policy guidelines to serve as a framework in reviewing the unique conditions associated with each application ... limitations on items such as square footage and signage would be appropriate, in an effort to minimize any negative impacts on surrounding properties

.. this situation also offers an opportunity to entertain the possibilities afforded by the form-based zoning concept, to integrate the physical aspects/appearance of the property/proposed use, into the more rigid regulatory structure of the traditional zoning and building codes ... an overlay zoning district could provide the regulatory cover to implement these less than traditional standards/requirements onto isolated cases ... the broader the regulatory base you work from, the less likely you are to face charges of spot zoning
Bob McNeill, Community Development Specialists

I worked on a past project with the architectural firm of Tuck-Hinton. Their offices are located in a rehabbed church near downtown Nashville, TN. While I am not certain of the zoning details they encountered while remodeling, this is an excellent example of an adaptive re-use of a house of worship. Photos are found on their website... http://www.tuck-hinton.com/

Partners for Sacred Places (http://www.sacredplaces.org/) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the creative re-use of historic places of worship. They have an interesting presentation called "Sacred Places at Risk" that is posted to their website (http://www.sacredplaces.org/pdf/places_at_risk.pdf). They might have insight on zoning guidelines to promote the re-use of these types of buildings.
Hope these leads are helpful to you.
Bill Neuendorf, Village of Morton Grove

Lansing has a youth center in an abandoned church.
Grace Bazylewski, Lansing, IL

The Village of Orland Park had a small church in a minor commercial area that could not find another congregation. The Village worked with a local realtor who rehabbed the church in a sympathetic manner (reviewed by the Village) and made it his office. It was already in a zoning district that allowed commercial uses and the use has been very compatible with the area. This has been the case for about ten years. The building still adds to the character of the area and the use has not overwhelmed the building or neighborhood. It is also now provides property tax revenue. Hope that helps.
Bob Sullivan, Village of Orland Park

I do not have an example of an ordinance to address this issue but have an example, There is a church in the Village of Rochester (east of Springfield) that moved and left a large facility just off of Route 29 and near the community's schools. This is now a large day care center. The village's phone number is 217-498-7192.
Deanna Glosser

I recommend application of limited mixed use redevelopment. This can include building design review standards. Permitting neighborhood commercial uses by a SUP including small : grocery, clothing shop , Dr office, barber shop/beauty salons, coffee shop etc might work. The new uses must fit the appearance of the neighborhood established by design review standards that may be different in different neighborhoods. This is smart growth and also may enhance reduction of fat city by encouraging neighborhood walking and shopping. The keys to success of such an approach are the age of residents, mobility, and a market study to see if the area incomes would support new business activity.
Clyde Forrest, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Check on reuses in other towns. There's a small Christian church in the middle part of Evanston that was converted (pun intended) into a (two-unit?) residential development. City of Evanston planning staff should be able to give you the address.

Also, look into reuses as nightclubs and restaurants. The City of St. Louis has several former churches as restaurants and nightclubs. In Evanston, there's non-profits have have taken houses of worship and converted them into music institutes.
Tim Angell, City of Des Plaines

If your goal is to keep the abandoned/dilapidated churches rather than take them. I would think you may be better off attacking the problem from the neighborhood- residential aspect (goals, objectives and policies) as in which the churches are located rather than the church itself. The reason being is that a church seems to typically reflect those who attend it. If the church is in a neighborhood where the socioeconomics and tax base is changing, then so will the congregation of the church. If this is the case, it could lead to abandoned churches.

I am speaking as not only a planner but also someone who is experiencing this personally with the church I attend. My church has decided to relocate closer to the members it serves and sold the building to another church whose members have moved into the community surrounding the existing church. My church is building new in a newer neighborhood (closer to where the congregation lives). Although they could afford to rehab the existing church instead of rebuilding, the membership does not live in the community. And lastly they can afford to build new, although easier said than done with a church.
L.B.Green

I know of a number of examples where an old church structure has become the new home for an antique shop or a combination restaurant/antique shop. These uses would definitely be compatible if located next to an established town center/downtown. And these uses would probably be okay in some residential neighborhoods that want to encourage mixed-use.

As for other public structures being reused for commercial, office and/or residential, there are also numerous examples.

The zoning might allow these uses as a permitted use in or near the downtown. However, these uses are often treated as a special use when located in a mostly residential neighborhood.
Paul Bednar, Paul Bednar Planning & Design, ltd.

Some time ago (about 15 years) we confronted a similar situation involving a disused fire station. Public facilities like churches have historically been permitted on fairly liberal terms in residential neighborhoods and the reuse of such public assets poses similar problems.

We created a special use category for "Adaptive Reuse of Government Buildings". It woutd be straightforward to create a similar category for churches. If there are other obsolescent structures posing similar questions you may want to broaden the category.

Under this scheme an array of uses could be permitted by special use permit subject to a public hearing. We erred in allowing petitions for too wide an array of uses, in fact, almost any commerical use. That resulted in one of our longest running zoning headaches. The potential range of uses permitted by an adaptive reuse special use permit needs to be carefully considered.

I would also caution against trying to guess what the impacts would be upfront and loading in a bunch of dimensional, site design and other restrictions that may be unnecessary and that would tend to discourage reuse of the structures. On balance those issues are probably best dealt with as site specific conditions.
Frank DiNovo, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission

The Village of Streamwood doesn't really have this problem. However, we do have a zoning category (ours is R-4 Transitional), which does permit the assembly uses you've mentioned along with limited office/commercial. It doesn't generally permit retail, but does allow insurance offices, financial planning services, attorneys, etc.

These are special uses, to ensure that the parking and proposed non-residential uses blend well with the area (see our Code on-line at http://66.113.195.234/IL/Streamwood/index.htm)

A very nice example of a commercial reuse of this transitional nature is in Geneva (and a winner of an IL-APA Award). A former hospital fronted on a residential street, yet its rear yard abutted more traditional commercial. This has been redeveloped into office space and provides a very nice buffer and transition from traditional residential and non-residential uses.
Sharon Caddigan, Village of Streamwood

The City of Highland had a similar situation. We had a vacant that was sold and the new owner wanted to convert it to apts. We allowed them to do that under a Special Use permit with annual renewal. After a period of time and no complaints from neighbors the City converted it to a perpetual Special Use.
Sharon Walter, City of Highland

The City of Carbondale has not changed any ordinances in regard to unused churches.
Thomas Grant, City of Carbondale, Illinois

When I worked for the City of Naperville, IL, they had an R2 district that allowed conversion of homes to offices as a conditional (or Special Use depending upon how your code is structured). Typically the homes and or properties that were eligible had to font onto a roadway that had a certain classification level, usually an arterial roadway. Although I have been gone for five years and recall a few amendments being considered to broaden this to allow some small scale commercial use, I’m not sure if those changes were ever pursued to completion. I believe the ordinance may have called out specific street frontages within certain blocks that were eligible (somewhat like an overlay district). The ordinance also required that the existing structure be retained and set maximum limits on the % of increase or decrease in existing square footage that was allowed unless they could demonstrate from a structural standpoint the buildings could not be preserved. The structures also had to retain a residential appearance. Hope that gives you an idea. Their ordinance is available online under the City’s website. The zoning regulations are contained in title 6 under the Municipal Code.
Jerry Dudgeon, Kendall County

My guess is that you'll find examples of office and other limited commercial uses allowed in larger cities' zoning ordinances. Sounds like a good idea to me. Some of those limited commercial and office uses you talk about may even generate less traffic than a church.
Jay Getz

In Swansea , our zoning regulations only allow churches in residential districts as a special use. We have never had a church organization come to us wanting to build in the heart of one of our residential districts. The occasions when a church did locate in the Village, they built the churches within an office park, or the church simply occupied an existing building within one of our commercially zoned districts. Due to the office park restrictions, the buildings that the churches built looked just like all of the other office buildings within the park. Of course the churches that did leave for whatever reason, the building was able to be re-leased for office purposes. We have been fortunate that the existing churches within the village that are in “church-like” buildings are still in operation.

One good example of a unique reuse of a church building that I can think of is the former site of the 100 year old 1st Baptist Church in Belleville . Although the church was located on the fringe of a residential district, not in the heart, when the church relocated several years ago, the building was converted into a meeting/banquet facility and is now known as Bellecourt. Many of the original features - stained glass, woodwork, etc., were preserved, and it really gives the facility a nice ambiance.
Terry Harp, Village of Swansea

In the City of Rockford, we have had two successful adaptive reuse of public schools to offices ( when located on an arterial street) and to residential units (two examples). We also have two examples of failures when these schools were purchased by Religious Organizations that simply got in way too deep.

For Downtown Churches, we have some that are seriously underutilized that may become a problem in time. Several of the larger churches have "competed" by buying up surrounding properties to demolish and expand their parking areas.
Wayne Dust, City of Rockford

We are a Chicago suburb that is currently updating its Comprehensive Land Use Plan. For the existing conditions chapter of the Plan it is being debated whether to include the demographic information for our immediate neighbors. The current draft of the plan already compares our demographics to county data. It has been suggested to also include demographic information for our neighboring municipalities. We fear that also including our neighbors in addition to the County may be too much information for our residents and potential development interests to digest. We also believe that it may take some of the focus of the plan away from explaining our community. We are curious to know a) if other communities have compared demographic data to their immediate neighbors or was b) comparing themselves to just their respective county sufficient for explaining the current “snapshot” of their community?

Anonymous

I’ve done plans for communities that wanted the data and those that didn’t care. I think it clutters the plan. While what’s going on in the neighborhood does influence your community the meat of the plan should be what you are doing and where you want to go. Maybe include some of the data that are pertinent to the neighborhood but don’t load the plan up with fluff. The heavier it is the less likely it will be read, the less likely it will be followed.
Don Thomas, AICP

I would include virtually all demographics in a background report that is accepted, not adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan. As a rule, I suggest adopting policy and goals, and keeping information that will change in background reports or technical support documents. That strategy keeps the plan current longer, and makes it easier for readers to assimilate.
Jerry Swanson, City of Batavia

I agree with your approach. Considering the goal of the Comp. Plan is utmost; is it intended to address conditions in your community? Also, will your community ever expand into surrounding areas through annexations or land swaps? If your community is pretty much landlocked, then maintaining focus on YOUR community seems to me to be appropriate; other sources are available for surrounding communities. However, if your community is a larger county seat, and/or might grow into surrounding areas, then some of demographic info. from nearby communities could be appropriate.
John D. Said, AICP, City of Elmhurst

We do not include information regarding our neighboring communities in our comp plan.
David A. Hulseberg, Village of Lombard

If I were to do a comp plan today I would reference the neighboring communities as a way to present the setting for my community. In the simplest terms of population, income maybe home ownership you could reference further data available at the regional agency of your choice a cog or CMAP or the web sites of your neighboring communities. Another way to include the data is to not focus on the individual communities but strike the tried and true concentric circle model and make data available at the 1, 2, and 5 mile interval -- everyone is smart enough to plop in the communities. This creates the service base for example for retail without pointing at particular communities. this is in the mind set of developer types.

I see little value of comparing a community to county numbers.
Grace Bazylewski, Village of Lansing

NO!
As you say, it may take away from your specifics as a community - when committee members and/or residents are reading the material. If needed, we include comparative data of surrounding communities within reports that are written for specific development petitions, etc., etc.
Arlene Kollar, AICP, Village of Addison

Cook County is so broad an area with diverse population that in the work I do for the Village, I have used comparative data from surrounding communities, or those throughout the county/metro area that I'm aware are similar in development style and general demographics to Schaumburg.
Richard M. Bascomb, Village of Schaumburg

In a recent amendment to the Village of Bartlett’s Comprehensive Plan we included the demographic data based on a 1 mile radius, 3 mile radius and 5 mile radius from a central intersection on the plan. Jim Plonczynski, Village of Bartlett

In my work, I’ve always had the comparisons. I think it helps the community understand themselves better. Most of the time, its reaffirming with statistics what they already know. I’ve never had a problem or a reason to be fearful.
Deborah Jan Fagan, AICP, DuPage County Department of Economic Development and Planning

In regards to our recently adopted Comprehensive Plan, we compared ourselves to Kane County and not to our neighboring communities,
Edmond J. Cage,  Village of Carpentersville

Your residents need to know more about the neighboring areas... for Marketing, for sizing the local population and its ethnicities and for determining the housing availability nearby to your city. Nothing in Chicagoland is ever isolated. We all need the guy next door even if he lives in a different town.... all of Chicagoland is one carpet from downtown to out beyond IL 47 right NOW.
Jane Mayer
Peoria... a true suburb of Chicago... for the mobile population.

We have included information about our neighboring communities if it helps strengthen the story we are trying to tell and/or if it helps to explain the context in which we are operating. For specific reference, check out our Business Recruitment materials under demographics on our website.
Kimberly Bares, DevCorp North

Local suburban municipalities respond to more widespread demographic changes. When planners study demographic change we often focus on variation in the number of people or households. Most suburban municipalities are small so that the net impact of internal population change (births minus deaths) usually accounts for a small portion of overall change. Variations in net migration -- often tied to residential subdivision and zoning limits -- represent the major focus of attention. Variation in net migration rates provides a good measure of change among jurisdictions. Of course planners learn about these changes in terms of approvals for dwelling and business development.

Measures of population characteristics offer information not available by focusing on permit related information. The US census offers the most detailed information, and measuring the change in population attributes between say 1990 and 2000 offers the most systematic and reliable source of comparative data. Other sources include private sector market data that utilizes a growing array of attributes tied to individual and household consumer activity.

What kind of attributes should planners use when considering future changes for the comp plan?

Many folks concentrate on population increases, and household size. How many more folks do we expect we need to accommodate given expectations about density, transportation network and other land development concerns?

What strikes me is how local officials imagine their community as a kind of independent boat floating on a demographic sea, rather than just another patch of ocean harboring a new patch of seaweed. Land planners work hard trying to convince local officials to pay more attention to the unique configuration they might foster for their local patch; but this often falls on deaf ears.

Perhaps one way to awaken folks to the inescapable interdependence of the metro region would be reporting how waves of demographic change shape the responses of their neighbors. I am not sure what exact measures to use, because I think it depends importantly on the local context and the purposes at hand. I would not start out using measures of income and race or ethnicity as these changes excite the most anxiety and worry. These attributes matter a lot and these demographic differences fuel important housing market outcomes and all sorts of defensive land use responses.

Profiles of community life cycle change: I might start by showing the relationship between household life cycle and the profile of life cycle change among households within your community and its neighbors. Local school districts pay attention to this kind of demographic change as they track change in number of students within their area. Twenty years from now if you change like your neighbor X you will have x% more empty nesters and y% more nuclear households. So you need to anticipate providing alternative housing stock for these folks.

Additionally, I would use census data to track moving in and out (there are other sources of data to track this change as well that allow you to offer more current precision). It helps when folks at a committee meeting insist that the future conditions be just like the familiar present when they learn that 4 out fo 5 households like theirs will not be there in 10 years, as was the case in four of their older neighbors. So when we plan for 20 years in community x this will include only 20 percent of current residents give or take 5 percent.

Demographic knowledge can help shift attention from protecting local stuff (the boat floating on the demographic ocean) to responding to the flow of households (that sea weed) and people across the geographic expanse of the region. I think we planners want to balance the current attachment to place with the changing needs and composition of households who stay, leave and come. Showing some of those changes in a sympathetic and graphically clear fashion might help us make this case more compelling to local officials.

If this works then I would try the more challenging measures to show how our responsibility might even run deeper -- trying to change the currents that move the seaweed around. But that's why anonymity matters in this kind of exchange. Easy for me to write because I have tenure at a university.
Professor Charlie Hoch at UIC

We are updating our Comp Plan and included Housing data for 5 adjacent communities.
Mark Koplin, Village of Hoffman Estates

First of all, 2000 data is so out of date, especially household income and home values, as to be worthless. If the ethnic mix has changed, your demographics should reflect accurate numbers - unless your elected officials balk, which they probably will. As for neighboring communities, use CMAP numbers for your region or NE Illinois. No use stirring up problems with them.
George Sakas

... given your location in the Chicago metro area, comparing yourself to the county as a whole can be a bit misleading in that there is a wide disparity of demographic characteristics in many subareas of the county and exactly how you fit - or don't fit - that bigger picture, may be what you're looking to emphasize ... I would base my decision on a direct comparison w/neighbors, based upon the consensus regarding what that comparison might mean to the overall plan recommendations

... for example, from an economic development perspective, most retailers and developers will conduct there own market analysis which will utilize data based on prospective trade areas - often ignoring or setting aside traditional municipal profile data; meaning the data shown in the plan would be supplemental, at best ... if a particular policy or plan element can be strongly supported through the use of direct comparisons, they should be utilized, in my opinion

... I would think the best of both worlds would be to treat both perspectives - briefly - in the plan narrative, while perhaps utilizing a graph or chart to highlight the similarities or differences between your community and the county/MSA, while then providing a more detailed comparison with adjoining communities in an appendix or data supplement, or perhaps in a separate economic development brochure or community profile document that is referenced in the plan ... this approach would allow your residents to compare the community with the county, while more analytical or specialized readers might explore the data appendix for a more in-depth presentation
Bob McNeill, Community Development Specialists

In my experience in preparing and reviewing comprehensive plan it is very common to provide comparable community info – either neighbors or other similar community. I also agree that having this much info in the report is not user friendly, and is also not used very often. You might want to consider moving most of the background info, such as demographic data to an appendix or separate report, and provide an executive summary of the info in the main document.
Konstantine T. Savoy, AICP, Teska Associates, Inc.

In my experience, comparison to County data has been the norm. Sometimes, additional data to "similar" communities in other parts of the same State would also make sense. For example, here in Macomb our new plan will compare some of our demographics to other Illinois university communities.

I would agree that comparison to neighbors would probably be somewhat distracting or overwhelming.
Ed Basch, City of Macomb

If you find your community is competing with your neighbors for development, especially commercial, with your neighbors, it may be helpful to include demographics. I would not necessarily include such demographics in the plan itself, as that info is likely to change on a fairly frequent basis compared to the Plan. I would include the info as an appendix to an executive summary. In that manner you could issue new demographics as you undertake an annual goal assessment of the overall plan. As a village manager, I would find this method of more use to the plan commission and the municipal board. Speaking from experience as a retired village manager.
J. Mann

Although I have not worked for a city on Comprehensive Land use plan, I feel that it will be a great help in developing a 'really comprehensive' plan by taking into consideration critical issues that might crop up in the surroundings because of the comprehensive development in your city/suburb. This does not necessarily mean that all the data about the surroundings be pumped in. It only means that impacts of the proposals be looked into and the relevant data be presented.
Dinesh Mahendra

We just compared here with the county demographics.
Kevin Limestall, City of Highland

We used the CMAP data, because dependent on your location an adjacent County may be more appropriate.
Sharon Caddigan, Village of Streamwood

We are currently writing a new comprehensive plan in Winnebago County. We just completed our "Findings Memo" which will be an appendix to our updated land use plan. The Findings Memo is a snapshot of current conditions including demographics/statistics and the results of our public participation process. We opted to include some data for several Illinois counties nearby for comparison purposes. I don't think it detracts from the focus on our county, rather, it adds to the analysis. Consequently, we have alot of information that may be overwhelming for some. However, I believe this is outweighed by the benefits.

You can view our Findings Memo via http://209.94.39.11/html/deptHome.asp?deptID=1082&pgID=307. Reginald Arkell, Winnebago County

Please advise this community that demographic boundaries for themselves and their neighbors are useless if they are strategizing retail and food service. Shoppers do not shop by city boundaries, they shop by convenience--which means driving time and parking convenience to their destination store. If they can obtain comparable goods and services with less time and a more convenient, satisfactory experience, they will. I would be happy to demonstrate graphically why this is true.
Carol Gies
 

Current practices in the region do not allow for the timely sharing of information on new development and roadway projects as related to transit planning. How do municipalities, Counties, and local entities inform transit providers of their new developments, changes to land use, roadway projects, and Transit Oriented type developments? Pace is interested in exploring a “How to Guide” on Transit and Land Use. Thanks in advance for your interest.

Thomas J. Radak, AICP
Senior Project Manager, Pace Suburban Bus

Our village zoning map is updated annually and made publicly available as required by Illinois law.

I don't know of any formal way of communicating new developments but would be happy to work with you to keep you informed of new projects in Morton Grove. There are several new projects near our Metra rail station and we hope to provide Pace linkages to serve these residents.
Bill Neuendorf, Village of Morton Grove

The Village of Bartlett used to send all of its Development Plan/Site Plan applications to PACE for review but the Transportation Planner left PACE and the contact was lost. If they do have a new planner please let them know to contact us.
Jim Plonczynski, Village of Bartlett.

Many municipalities post agendas of their Plan Commissions and Village Boards/City Councils on their websites. Possibly the RTA could monitor them and request more details on relevant projects if needed, passing on the information to Metra, PACE and CTA. Other approaches might be to monitor utility hook-ups and permits.
Bob Sullivan, Orland Park

Each municipality has a list of some sort to distribute information simultaneously to various departments/persons/city councilors/etc of such changes. Get PACE added to this list in each municipality. This may be time-consuming, but would also be an excellent opportunity to remind cities about Pace. There is no extra costs as the system is already set up by the city, just a matter of adding one more to the list of many. Best if requested voluntarily, as most municipalities probably would comply, but may have to pass an RTA ruling or even a state law if some resist.

This list frequently is a fax list, so thus get your fax number added to their lists. If an email list, then get your email address on the list. In any case, then when a sender puts out the message to the group, you will automatically get the info, and the sender does not have to think about it, nor forget to include you. In fact, individual senders probably don't even know who all is getting the info when it goes out to a list such as a fax group or an email group.

The transit district I work for has done this, albeit on a small scale, as we only have several municipalities to deal with (but it is more than one). Pace area probably would involve 1200+ entities. However, once the initial contacting and request is done, then it is automatic afterwards.

I would recommend an extensive outreach program to all developers, urban planners, and municipalities - at minimum to make acquaintance and to make people aware to include transit in the earliest initial study stages of any project. If such people are amenable, you can expand the program to have an advisory role in planning such subdivisions and developments, or offer technical data (i.e. measurements and standards) warehouse/database, seminars, public meetings, etc.

PITFALLS:
get an organizing and filing system established. It is very easy, even here with a couple of reporting municipalities, to get bogged down under the flurry of paperwork. Simply stacking them on a desk forever, or filing and forgetting them, is not going to help Pace be proactive in transit planning. the paperwork would be mountainous with 1200+ municipalities reporting all of their land-use actions to you.

create a computer tracking system of some sort - a database probably, so that you can track progress of city council events such as zoning, construction permits, occupancy permits, etc. knowing progress of construction will help you plan on when to actually start services to that area. this could even be done by recent univ grads or perhaps interns. Or it could even be offshored to India or somewhere if really cost-conscious.

some municipalities may resist reporting such activity - even one of our municipalities is a resistor and refuses to send us such info things, and refuses to let us expand service in the half of their town that currently is "outside" the district. I cant say more due to legal proceedings, but in any case, be prepared that some communities may not "want" your service, even though it should be provided and they are already paying sales or property taxes in that area and thus eligible to receive service.

another issue we have is "how much info" to track. do you want to know EACH step of the way, such as zoning denials, re-applications, plat maps, etc? do you even want to know of land sales so that you can anticipate when/how/where future subdivision requests might pop up? at minimum, you probably need to know of the initial plat request, and when residents actually start moving in. waiting for plat request to the city MIGHT already be too late to get transit included in the initial planning stage with the urban planners, civil engineers, and marketing people of a developer would have already done some of their studies and drawings, and would make it difficult/costly to change.
Mikil

New developments is difficult; although published in most local press. However, for roadway projects, most Council of Governments (in the Chicagoland area this includes NWMC, SSMMA, SWCM among others) who work collaboratively on FHWA funding, CMAQ, STP allocations, etc. IDOT and CMAP, both, provide comprehensive reports at these meetings. Contact the local COG or CMAP for more information.
Sharon Caddigan, Village of Streamwood

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) contracted with me as a transportation planning consultant to provide for regular communications between the local governmental entities and the district. I attend meetings of the development services teams at the cities, transportation planning meetings, MPO transportation planning meetings, etc. I also advocate for more transit, walking and biking supportive development and organize regular workshops and educational events to provide local engineering staff and planners with current information on the state of the practice.

CUMTD also has a large project underway called the Mobility Implementation Plan or miPLAN for short. This project is gathering a large amount of input and data from the community regarding their travel behavior and mobility choices. It also involves identifying opportunities for mobility enhanced development for infill, redevelopment and Greenfield development. As part of the project barriers to transit supportive and oriented development have been identified and strategies and tools for encouraging such development have been proposed.

As part of my work with CUMTD I have also made contact with the local cycling community and engaged them in the planning processes locally. They are now organized into an effective community group with a recognized voice and push for better cycling infrastructure. I am also engaging the local environmental community in the planning processes and advocating for transit.

We are in the process of working on a brochure and set of suggested guidelines for developers who want to pursue transit supportive development.
Cynthia Hoyle, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District

I’ve been looking through my library and those of my co-workers and I haven’t been able to put my hands on it, but I believe that PACE produced a report to help local agencies do a better job of integrating land use planning and decision-making and transit. It was a How To report with guidelines. Produced about 10 years back.
Deborah Jan Fagan, AICP, DuPage County Department of Economic Development and Planning

For some years NIPC has monitored and recorded in GIS early development activities and plans in the region. Formerly used as an in-house resource for forecasting, we began to make it available about three years ago on the NIPC website under the banner NIPC Development Data Base. CATS and IDOT web sites have project and construction information. You are right in that these are not integrated and must be cross-monitored to address your concerns.

In the meantime, take a look at the NIPC development Data Base in the Research and Forecasting area. Two reasons to take a look ASAP. 1) CMAP will be redesigning these web sites soon and 2) Web information is being evaluated for its usefulness and we would like to hear from you if you find the development tracking in the NIPC Development Data Base useful – along with any other feedback on the potential for a combined NIPC/CATS/CM<AP web site.
Ron Thomas

We have a land developer that final platted @ 80 acres as residential homes. The developer only put in the required improvements for the first 40 acres and bonded for the remaining. Now their bond is coming up for renewal and they do not want to renew it. They are asking if they could record a document of notification on each lot, that the improvements are not in and they will not offer such lots for sale? The developer has stated they do not intend to put in the improvements. Our suggestion is to amend the final plat deleting the unimproved portion or put up the bond. Has anyone had any similar dealings and if so, what was done?

Kevin Limestall
City of Highland, IL

We use a Letter of Credit here in Rockford, and we have had to cash in some of them to provide necessary improvements. If the developer is leaving a bunch of stub streets with no turnarounds or if he is seriously impacting orderly development, I would seriously consider taking action against the developer. Developers sometimes use this ploy to keep adjacent land owners from getting adequate access to public streets, public water and, especially, to sanitary sewer trunk lines or major laterals. This can bring development to a screeching halt in a specific area.
Wayne Dust, City of Rockford

The key question is whether or not the final plat that has been recorded included the second 40 acres. If so the bond should be renewed or the developer should be compelled to install the improvements.
Patrick Finn, Village of Flossmoor

I would suggest vacating all of that part of the plat that will not be completed. Once vacated, I would think that the bond can be disposed of.
Stuart Richter

You definitely need to make them vacate the lots or renew the bond. If they are not going to develop the remaining, make them file a plat of vacation prior to the expiration of the current bond.
Russ Farnum, City of DeKalb

If the 80 acres were annexed, what were the terms of the annexation agreement? Are there requirements or conditions that you can use to force the developer to renew the bond? Has the City Attorney reviewed the proposed document to verify that the lots won't be sold sometime in the future? If the developer sells the 40 acres to another developer, is the City protected? What if somehow a few lots are sold and the new owners expect the City to put in the improvements? If the developer chooses not to install the improvements or renew the bond - and that was required by the annexation agreement or the subdivision approval - amend the plat so it covers the 40 acres where he has complied with all the City's requirements. Then work with him on selling the first forty acres. Later he can re-apply for the plat for the second forty acres when he is able/willing to install the improvements.
Laurie Marston, Chaddick Institute

If I understand this correctly, I would recommend amending the final plat to reflect the actual conditions. The unimproved acres should not be part of the approved final subdivision.

I've worked in three communities in the Chicago area, and in all three the approval of a final plat required that the developer put up a letter of credit (not a bond) to guarantee completion of the public improvements necessary to meet the requirements of the subdivision code.
Robert J. Glees, PE, AICP, Village of Carol Stream

First and foremost: The City of Highland should determine if there are any improvements (important street connections, water main loops, stormwater management), easement, or ROW it feels must be completed/retained for the public/City's benefit in the yet to be completed 40 acres. If there is, the City should either mandate the developer complete those improvements or the City should draw on the bond so the City can complete any such improvements. If the developer agrees to complete the improvements, the City should make sure that the bond is renewed prior to it's expiration in order to "insure" that the improvements are completed to the City's standards.

Second: If the City does not really care if the yet to be developed 40 acres is improved/developed at this time and there are no ROW or easements dedicated in the yet to be developed 40 acres that must be retained for the public's benefit, I would suggest that the City require the developer to prepare and submit for City approval and ultimate recording at the County (all to be done prior to his bond expiring) a plat of vacation that eliminates all lot lines, easements, and roadway dedications that were created in the unimproved 40 acre section in the previously approved final plat for the 80 acre subdivision.

When all is said and done, make sure the City is not left holding a bag of crap the developer created. Insist that he clean up his mess. I have never heard of recording a document notification as suggested by the developer. To me, as long as the lots remain platted without a commitment for the necessary improvements, the City is looking for trouble/problems. It sounds like the Bond is the only leverage you have to make sure he cleans up after himself. Good luck.
Ron Mentzer, City of Warrenville

I've never run into a situation like the one you describe, but I would definitely lean toward requiring the subdivider to amend the final plat to delete the unimproved lots. The existence of the unimproved platted lots would be very misleading to the public. The only other alternative I might be comfortable with (keeping the final plat as is) would be to get a Letter of Credit from the subdivider for 115% of the cost of the improvements. Good luck.
Dick Untch, City of Geneva

Vacating the plat as to the 40 unimproved acres is a good solution. Cashing the bond is another solution, though it's often a lot of trouble to cash in a bond -- bonding companies tend not to give up money unless a judge tells them to; next time require a letter of credit from a local bank. Not a good solution to record any sort of notice against the properties. Title insurance companies may not find it; creates future title issues with regard to future development. Best to set up the unimproved acreage for future sale and resubdivision. I think vacating the plat as to the 40 unimproved acres is the way to go.
Gregory Dose

Is it a Planned Development or is it a basic subdivision plat? Were all 80 acres Final Platted? Are there essential utility connections or streets that were to be routed through this property that are required for other community areas to be served?

It seems to me that if they want to continue to control the last 40 acres until the housing market improves and no essential timely connections are located in those 40 acres, then they have to either extend the bond or give up control of the land. What does the City Attorney say?
Bruce Goehmann, Integrated Planning Services

In the Village of Bartlett if the developer refuses to renew his bond for the remaining public improvements, the Village calls in the bond and uses the money to make the final improvements.
Jim Plonczynski, Village of Bartlett

No similar experience, but I concur that you should amend the plat to delete the lots unless the developer secures the improvements. Don't trust him!!!!!
Mark Koplin, Village of Hoffman Estates

Call on the bond and put in the public improvements to serve the remaining platted lots.
Matthew Fitzgibbon, AICP, Village of Roselle

The following thoughts are not legal advice but are offered based on my 25 years of experience in dealing with plats of subdivision and their associated sureties. This situation is reminiscent of the late 70’s and early 80’s when development activities slowed a bit and developers found themselves in similar situations.

Unfortunately, municipalities are sometimes faced with these situations, though this particular one seems to be above board in that communication still exists between the developer and the City of Highland . Infrastructure sureties came to be because of unscrupulous developers who platted and sold lots, never intending to install necessary improvements, on their way to a life of luxury at the expense of naïve lot purchasers and municipalities. Those days are gone, but dilemmas such as those now faced are still a reality of the land development business.

It is always best for such a dilemma to present itself with adequate time remaining for the municipality to act prior to the expiration of the bond or Letter of Credit. Because the developer has stated an unwillingness to renew the bond as presumably required by the City Code, the City should act promptly in one of the following manners:

1. Call the Bond, thereby receiving all the funds necessary to complete the required improvements. However, this action requires much thought and evaluation by the City. For instance, is the bond amount sufficient to cover all municipal expenses and “current” improvement cost estimates considering such things as material prices (particularly asphalt), construction layout costs and engineering inspection? Further, does the City want to essentially become the project manager for this subdivision? Also, is there a demand for these residential units that will, when supplied, benefit local economic interests and the City?

2. Begin legal action, compelling the developer to renew the Bond in the amount required by the City Code. It was not stated in the original question, but this development may be subject to the terms of an Annexation Agreement that provides remedies for such a situation.

3. Have the developer submit all documents necessary, in accordance with 765 ILCS 205 (Plat Act) Sections 6-8 which provide for the “vacation” of all or portions of a Plat previously recorded. This would essentially be a “friendly” action, thereby removing the need for a Bond securing improvements to the lots the developer does not wish to improve or sell. In lieu of a “Plat of Vacation”, recording any other type of instrument “notifying” any interested party or prospective lot purchasers that the improvements have not been installed, should not be considered by the City.

In this particular situation, it appears the filing and processing of a Plat of Vacation, for that portion of the original Plat of Subdivision that the developer does not intend to develop, is the most viable course of action. Note: This would not be the case if SSA bonding was utilized for any or all of the improvement costs, since the lots which may be vacated are being used as collateral for the SSA Bonds so issued.

We should all learn from this situation and be cautious not to plat too many lots at one time, thereby creating a large inventory that outpaces housing demand forecasts.

I hope these comments provided food for thought.
John T. Whitehouse, P.E., P.L.S., Village of Burlington and Engineering Enterprises, Inc.

I would recommend that the city pull the bond and put in the public improvements themselves. Or else de-annex the property and consolidate all the lots back into one parcel in order to force them to have to come back and re-subdivide.
Kimberly Jones, City of Lockport

Your question raised a few of my own. Was this development subject to an annexation agreement? Planned unit development ordinance? Or some other control mechanism? Does the Village ultimately want to have the "back 40" developed? Were any conditions placed on the development specifically requiring the construction and installation of the improvements? If there are, and the Village is inclined, you can enforce the provisions of the agreement or ordinance. Also, the Village can call the bond and use its own forces or contractors to complete the improvements.

Otherwise, what is the reason why the developer wants to not develop the remainder of the parcel? Housing market concerns?

Ultimately, if the Village has no qualms about whether the remainder of the parcel is developed, and the developer doesn't want to leave unimproved platted lots burdening the land, then have the developer vacate that portion of the plat. If this land has conservation value, you may also consider asking the developer to record a conservation easement on the land making the Village and--if there is one--homeowners' association beneficiaries under the covenant with rights of enforcement.
David S. Silverman, Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Bush, DiCianni & Krafthefer, P.C.

Improvement bonds are intended for situations exactly like this. I don't know the details of this case, but from what you've shared, why don't you work with your City Attorney and City Engineer about pulling the bond and have the improvements installed, or possibly replatting with the remaining lots consolidated? But this latter option probably would not work because it's likely streets and infrastructure (water, sewer, etc.) in the first phase would be left with dead ends. Your City Attorney should advise.
Robert Myers, City of Urbana

I think your answer is right on the mark. I cannot imagine any circumstances that would be appropriate for a municipality to allow platted lots to exist without either a bond or the improvements. I think the best you can do for the developer is to approve a preliminary plat but not a final plat. This will give the developer some assurance that the “phase 2” meets Village codes without putting the Village at risk of having legal lots of record without the requisite infrastructure.
Doug Pollock, AICP, Village of Burr Ridge

How have other municipalities dealt with the re-use of vacant buildings? What were some of the "tools" utilized to stimulate their use? Specific examples would be helpful.
 
Kim Porter
Village of Skokie