DeKalb County held an APA-IL Plan Commissioner Training Session on December 9, 2021 for the County’s communities. This was the 129th training that the APA-IL has held. The presentation was well-attended by 26 appointed and elected officials plus municipal and county staff. Ten communities attended the training included the City of DeKalb, City of Sandwich, City of Sycamore, DeKalb County, Village of Hinckley, Village of Kingston, Village of Malta, Village of Shabbona, Village of Somonauk and the Village of Waterman. The trainers for this session were Michael Blue, FAICP, Paula Freeze, and special guest Mim Evans with the Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies. Thanks to Jolene Willis, Economic Development Coordinator for DeKalb County, all her efforts to bring this session together.
The trainers covered plan commission 101 topics such as the commissioner’s role, purpose, meetings, applications and touched on how to do all those functions when there isn’t paid staff. The topic of interacting with applicants and the public provided good discussion. Many had an interest in effectively applying special use and variation standards. Some of the DeKalb County’s communities are working to update their comprehensive plan and the topic provided an opportunity for attendees to think long-term and listen to fellow commissioners talk about the futures of their communities. The best parts of the session (from the trainers’ perspectives) were thoughtful questions raised by those in attendance and the group conversations that followed.
After the training, attendees were asked to evaluate the training through an online survey. Twenty (20) responses were received. Here are a few of the topics that attendees found most helpful:
Zoning
Review of some topics I take for granted out of habit.
The "basics" being explained to people. Importance of resource.
There's no right answer.
It was a good primer. Got topics and resources for the deep dive.
Dealing with the public.
Checking our finding of fact, special use standards. Non conforming uses. List of allowable variations.
Planning 101
Ordinance variation, responsibilities of commission, zoning info.
Reference information, various websites.
Role of the commission, conducting public hearings.
Plan Commissioner Training News & Notes:
Want to know how we can customize training for your officials?
Visit the Plan Commissioner Training website and contact the APA-IL Planning Officials Development Officer, Michael Blue, FAICP at podo@ilapa.org
(photos by Paula Freeze)