Plan Commission meeting recap

Last night’s Plan Commission meeting to review Shape Oak Park was what Plan Commission meetings are meant to be - boring.

A rowdy, mostly retired crowd spiced things up a bit with boos, heckling, and applause whenever a Plan Commission member made a point that resonated with their dislike of the new zoning reforms. But eventually they were lulled into somnolent repose by an hour's long, extensive review of the multi-article zoning reforms. To be fair to the presenter, there’s no way to make setbacks and impermeable lot coverage requirements exciting.

If you sat through the whole presentation, you walked away with a deep understanding of the changes, what motivates them, and their prospective impact to the community. I was reminded again of how incredibly conservative the plan is, deferential in the extreme to homeowner concerns (both real and imagined).

The meeting ran long, of course, and because of that, public comment wasn’t in the cards. We’ll have to wait for the next meeting, Oct 15th, or the next after that. Based on the sign-up sheets public comment was about 50/50 for/against, which was surprising given the crowd demographics. Thank you all for showing up in support.

I expect public comment, at 3 minutes each, would have taken several hours anyway. Likely public comment won’t matter much. If you’d like to have a bigger impact, e-mail the Plan Commission planning@oak-park.us, copy the board board@oak-park.us, asking them to recommend Shape Oak Park to the board without amendment. Positive, personal testimony has an impact, and can strike a contrast to what they are hearing from the other side.