Complaint Sent About Handling Of Elmhurst Meeting

ELMHURST, IL — An Elmhurst resident who opposes a zoning request from a sober living home in his neighborhood has filed a complaint with the state over the city's handling of a meeting on the issue.

Late last month, the City Council's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee pushed back public comment on the sober living home until after it voted on it. The committee recommended the full council approve a permit for the home at 348 N. Larch Ave., which started in 2018.

In his complaint to the attorney general, resident Adam Smeets noted the chairman of the committee, Alderman Michael Honquest, moved public input to after the vote.

"The community voiced their concerns that this was in violation; however, the Committee Chair indicated that it is at his discretion and wanted to be sure that a member of the committee could vote," Smeets wrote. "In further explanation, the Chair indicated that they didn't need any other community comment since they heard it in previous meetings."

The state Open Meetings Act requires public bodies to reserve time for public input, but the bodies can enact their own procedures.

Smeets contended the city violated its ordinance, saying it required public comment at the beginning.

"The Committee was voting out of fear and did not want opposition voiced in the case...," Smeets said.

The city code requires the council itself to hold public input at the beginning, but allows committee chairmen the discretion to push it back. The Open Meetings Act is silent on the issue.

In response to Smeets' complaint, the attorney general has requested the city provide a copy of the committee's meeting agenda and minutes

Both Mayor Scott Levin and former Alderman Michael Bram, who left the council last week, have criticized the decision to delay public input. Levin called it "disrespectful" to hold off public comment until after a decision is made.

The committee members — Honquest, Bob Dunn and Mark Mulliner — have not returned messages for comment.

In written comments to the city, Smeets has said he is not opposed to a sober home with four unrelated people, which is allowed under city code for the zone in question. But he and others have said they are opposed to making an exception to increase that number.