Officials with the League of Women Voters of Wilmette have posted a public plea on the League’s Facebook page and website, asking residents to keep local issue debates civil. At the same time, the League has also published an explanation from the village about how Wilmette’s planned unit development process works.
The connection between the two issues, they said, was a standing-room-only Plan Commission meeting last fall. During that Nov. 3 meeting, tension over a proposed affordable housing project at 1925 Wilmette Ave., presented by Northbrook-based Housing Opportunity Development Corporation for consideration by the commission, turned into rowdy debate that included charges the project would bring crime and drug dealing into Wilmette, and demands that any project should be for Wilmette residents.
“Many of the points of contention seemed to revolve around the developer’s use of the planned unit development process,” the League’s letter states, before going to outline what League officers decided to do after members attended that meeting.
League member Lali Watt said Aug. 4 that “many of the comments were about things that the plan commission had nothing to do with. For instance, the commission doesn’t get to decide who rents apartments.”
“There are legitimate things to discuss about PUDs; the most legitimate question is, are there enough public benefits coming back to the community from a project,” she said.
League co-president Gail Thomason said Aug. 5 that organization members also felt “that the lack of civility we see at the national level was trickling down to our community, and that concerned us. So we felt that providing residents with plain-English explanations of the process could help.”
Although the developer withdrew its proposal shortly after the November meeting, League members decided to start a public education project about the so-called PUD process, “because we understand it’s not reasonable to expect people to read the entire (zoning) ordinance.”
Thomason said she approached Village President Bob Bielinski, and Watt spoke with Village Manager Tim Frenzer early this year, asking if the village could provide answers to League questions about PUD developments.
The village agreed to do so, she said, and sent responses to all the questions. The League put the questions and answers up unaltered and unedited, Watt said.
Watt and Thomason also said the League’s accompanying letter makes it clear that League policy has, since 1980, supported affordable housing in Wilmette for seniors, and low- and moderate-income families, and that it supports the village’s 2000 comprehensive plan’s inclusion of “a pro-active but reasoned approach to providing additional affordable housing.”
The letter goes on to state: “Whatever opinion any resident may hold on this or any matter, we all must strive to ensure that civility, respect, and integrity inform all discussions moving forward.”
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Thomason said the League might in the future consider putting together more general information pieces about how other village commissions operate: “We have explored how to provide information about what to expect when you walk into a local governmental body meeting – what’s the process, what’s going to happen at this meeting, when can I comment, what are the next steps?”
She said the information on the PUD process represents “a first step in the League wanting to make sure that citizens know how to access their government.”
The League’s letter, and PUD information from the village, can be accessed at www.lwvwilmette.org/PUD.html, and is also accessible via their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LWV.Wilmette/.
Michael Braiman, Wilmette’s assistant village manager, said Aug. 10 that the village might put the PUD questions and answers up on its own website, as well.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy