The Village of Homer Glen hosted a Plan Commissioner Training Workshop on July 1, 2021 in their Village Board Room. The session was organized by Vijay Gadde, AICP, Homer Glen’s Planning and Zoning Director. Senior Planner Melissa King also attended and helped out. The workshop was attended by about 15 people that included Plan Commissioners, several Village Board Trustees, and members of the public.
Thank you for having the Trustees involved... very helpful
Trainers Andy Cross, AICP and Marty Scott, AICP led the session, presenting information on the background of planning, basics of comprehensive planning, zoning code essentials, and the roles of plan commissioners and the Village Board. There was interest in all the information, but a few items were discussed in detail:
Mechanics of PUD’s, Special Use Permits (with conditions), and Variations, including the standards in the Zoning Code and their importance.
Keys to efficient public hearings (reading emails into the record, limiting the length of public testimony).
Familiarization with the zoning code and breaking down barriers to understanding it as a citizen planner.
Having the trainers share real-world scenarios and personal experiences is always helpful for the Commissioners. It helps them to know that other communities encounter the same issues and concerns that they do. Along these lines, one comment in the post-session evaluations noted it would be helpful to have a mock hearing at the workshop so Commissioners could be exposed to the structure and flow of a hearing outside their normal surroundings and context. The APA-IL does offer a training in the form of a "mock hearing" and we will be working to make this available to this community as well as others.
Thank you to the Village of Homer Glen for inviting us to train your officials!
Plan Commissioner Training News & Notes:
Save-the-Date for the 2021 APA-IL State Conference!
We're excited to be "Back to Normal" for our 2021 State Conference in beautiful Normal, IL at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, October 6-7, 2021 and then virtually on October 8, 2021.
This conference is our once-a-year opportunity for urban planners and allied professionals to learn about the latest trends in Illinois planning and network with their peers.
Each year we host our state conference, we offer the opportunity for plan commissioners to attend training. This training is great for commissioners that have and have not been through our evening training. Plan commissioners are able to attend at discounted rates.
Please stay tuned for more information!
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 Vijay Gadde, AICP)