The APA-IL and DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute presented a Plan Commissioner Training workshop for the Village of Oak Lawn on August 6, 2018. Fifteen people attended the workshop, including eight members of the Planning and Development Commission, two members of the Appeals Board and three members of the Architectural Review and Design Commission, as well as the Village Attorney and the Village Planner. Trainers for the Chapter’s 90th workshop were Bob Sullivan, FAICP and Laurie Marston, FAICP.
The group asked questions about: whether it is appropriate for the Village to regulate building materials; whether it is okay for a Trustee to attend a hearing as long as they state they are speaking as an individual; and when the Village Board disagrees with our recommendation, should they explain why?
On their anonymous evaluation forms, those attending listed the most helpful topics as:
How to handle the public
Meeting decorum
Variations
Open meetings and ethics
Plan Commissioner Training Offered at the 2018 APA-IL State Conference!
It's back! Plan commissioners work hard reading packets, reviewing cases, conducting public hearings, and considering policy matters; but they rarely get the chance to sit back and look at the big picture of what they do and the significance it has to the communities in which they live. That will be the focus of this all-day track on September 27, 2018. All planning officials, boards, and commissions are welcome. Professional planners are welcome to attend both the morning and afternoon sessions. Planners will likely find the afternoon session, which includes a mock hearing and best practices for public hearings, the most useful.
For more information please visit the 2018 State Conference website.
Want to know how to get 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