Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Regulations Committee, called the meeting to order. He noted that all Committee members were present with the exception of Mrs. Dubin.

Mr. Miller began by reporting that Michael and Lisa Buczkowski have submitted an application for a Zoning Map Amendment to rezone a 5.47-acre property located at 33302 Kingston Road, in Kingston Township. The subject property is currently zoned R-1, Residential District, and the petitioner is proposing to rezone the property to A-1, Agricultural District to allow horses to be kept on the property.

The required public hearing was conducted on October 16, 2003 by DeKalb County Hearing Officer Ron Klein. At the hearing, the petitioners explained that they want to be able to have a horse on their property, but the current zoning of R-1 does not permit farm animals. They noted that the subject property used to be zoned E-2, which would have allowed a horse, and that the property across the road is currently zoned A-1, which does allow livestock. They also testified that none of their neighbors objected to the request, and in fact some may like to request A-1 zoning for their own properties in the future. Finally, they noted that the adjoining property to the north, which is also zoned R-1, currently has horses on it because the use is "grandfathered." Two members of the public spoke in favor of the request, and none in opposition. The Hearing Officer has forwarded his report, and recommends approval. Mr. Miller closed by noting that the petitioners have also been cautioned that approval of this Map Amendment will create a non-conforming lot and structure, and that a rezoning the A-1 would eliminate the possibility of the subject property being subdivided for additional houses in the future. However, he noted that the precedent for such an action had been set on a previous application in Somonauk Township. He also commented that the area in question is shown as Low Density Residential on the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan.

Ms. Vary commented that she had concerns about making a decision that would appear to be out of compliance with recommendation of the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Miller noted that while rezoning the parcel to A1 would appear to be at odds with the specific recommendation of the Plan, it would be compatible with the general recommendation of discouraging additional houses in the unincorporated portions of the County. He noted that there would be greater difficulties if the Plan had called for higher density residential use. For that reason, he did not see this as a significant deviation.

Mr. MacMurdo asked if there were any precedents being set for the creation of future legal, non-conforming lots by this request. Mr. Miller noted that every time the County deviates from the Comprehensive Plan it sets a precedent. However, the specific area in question is fairly unique in terms of the size of the residential lots and the current uses of the immediately adjoining lots to prevent any interpretation of broad scale precedent being set.

Mr. Lyle commented that he felt the land was too tree-filled to be useful as tillable field and therefore would have a greater use as pasture land. He also noted that there were several residences nearby that had horses.

Mr. Miller began by noting that Dorothy M. Walker has filed a petition for an Amendment to Section 8.05.B. of the DeKalb County Zoning Ordinance, and seeks to Amend that portion of the Zoning Ordinance regulations on nonconforming residential lots that governs their use. The proposal is to revise the regulation to make it clear that vacant, legal, nonconforming residential lots, or a combination of such lots, that equal 22,000 square feet or more in area, may be buildable for residences.

The required public hearing for this Zoning Text Amendment was conducted by Hearing Officer Kevin Buick on December 4, 2003. The petitioner testified that the proposed amendment is needed because the County Zoning Ordinance does not say what can be done with vacant, nonconforming "grandfathered" residential lots that have been zoned by the County without the property owner requesting the rezoning. The petitioner pointed out that all legal, nonconforming residential lots should be treated the same, regardless of whether a property owner came to the County for a rezoning or not. Staff stated that the Zoning Ordinance regulations regarding nonconformities are silent with respect to substandard-sized residential lots that were zoned by the County without a property owner’s request. Staff indicated support for the proposed Text Amendment. Several members of the public attended the hearing, and six stated that they supported the proposed Amendment. No members of the public spoke in opposition to the request. The Hearing Officer has filed his report and recommends approval of the Text Amendment, as modified by the staff.

Mr. Steimel commented that as he understood the situation, nothing constructive could be done with the land without this change. Mr. Miler agreed that was his understanding as well. He added that the proposed Amendment would address a deficiency in the current Zoning Ordinance.

Mr. Slack asked if it was correct that there were only a small number of these lots in the County. Mr. Miller replied that was the case and most were in the small unincorporated areas, such as Elva.

On an unrelated matter, Ms. Vary asked of it would be possible to have the staff prepare a small pamphlet for the Committee on the various types of zoning actions and how they are handled by the office. Mr. Miller noted that he could prepare such a pamphlet and commented that he was currently preparing a "Zoning 101" presentation for the Regional Planning Commission. There was interest expressed by some Committee members in attending the presentation when it was finalized. Mr. Sands commented that a Zoning Basics pamphlet should also contain information regarding various voting requirements attached to different actions.

Mr. Miller stated that the Planning, Zoning and Building Department staff has filed a petition for three Zoning Text Amendments to allow the Planning and Regulations Committee of the DeKalb County Board to direct that a zoning application should be returned to the County Hearing Officer for further consideration. The proposed Text Amendment would add a line to the decision portion of the Zoning Ordinance regulations regarding Special Uses, Variations, Map Amendments and Planned Developments that would make it clear that the Committee may refer a matter back to the Hearing Officer for further consideration.

The required public hearing for the Zoning Text Amendments was conducted by Hearing Officer Ron Klein on December 4, 2003. Staff presented the petition and testified as to the rationale for the Amendment, explaining that allowing the Committee to direct that a public hearing be re-opened could save the petitioner, staff and County a month or more in time it takes to process zoning applications. Staff also pointed out that the Amendments do not take away any authority of the County Board. In response to the inquiry of the Hearing Officer, staff explained that limiting the authority of the Committee to re-open a hearing to only one time per petition would prevent the possibility that the full County Board be denied the opportunity to deliberate on a zoning application by repeated hearings. Staff endorsed the proposed Amendments. No members of the public spoke in favor of or in opposition to the request. The Hearing Officer has filed his report and recommends approval of the Text Amendments.

Mr. MacMurdo complimented the department for the very useful and complete summary spreadsheet provided in the report. Mr. Miller noted that the summary is prepared by Paula Fisher, his Administrative Assistant, and that he would pass that compliment to her.

Ms. Vary added that she wanted to thank the office for the narrative section of the report that broke down the actions. She noted that she found that extremely helpful to her understanding of the information that followed. Mr. Miller replied that was the work of Ms. Fisher and himself and that he would pass that compliment to her as well.

Mr. Steimel asked what the "H" stood for in the Violations spreadsheet. Mr. Miller responded that it indicated which cases had gone to a Code Violation Hearing. He noted that it had been hoped that the mere threat of a code hearing would convey the importance of the matter to an individual in violation and move them to resolve the situation, however in some cases the individuals did not respond until the Hearing was called and fines were assessed. He closed by noting that the largest fine to date was in the neighborhood of $2,300. Mr. MacMurdo asked what that fine was for. Mr. Miller responded that the case involved grading in the flood plain without appropriate permits.

Mr. Steimel began by noting that several years ago, requests had been made to move the meeting time for the P&R Committee up to 7:00 p.m. At that time, several of the members active in the farming community objected. However, he went on to note that this did not seem to be the case any longer and moving to a 7:00 meeting time would bring the Committee in line with other Board committee meeting times.

Mr. Steimel requested that the first few meeting announcements have a note of the time change and Mr. Miller commented that he will notify the Board Office of the time change as well.

Mr. Steimel noted that Mr. Sands had expressed a desire to step down from his position as Vice Chair of the P&R Committee following his recent election as County Board Chairman. Mr. Sands commented that this was an action in keeping with the Board philosophy of spreading the leadership across Committees equitably.

Mr. Steimel then opened the floor for nominations. Ms. Vary nominated Mr. Slack for the Vice Chairmanship and Mrs. Allen nominated Mr. Lyle. Following discussion, Mr. Slack requested that his name be withdrawn from consideration.