La Grange's 'Aggressive' Billing Of Resident

LA GRANGE, IL – A La Grange man says the village's "aggressive" billing will stop him from continuing his effort to protect residents from developments.

Last month, resident Jonathan Robinson proposed changes to the village's code. He did that as part of a formal "text amendment" process, which requires the Plan Commission to hold a formal hearing.

To get the access, he paid $1,500 to reimburse the village for its costs. He was to get back any unspent money.

But it turned out that the village's expenses reached $2,700, he said at Monday's Village Board meeting.

About $1,500 of that bill was for village attorney Ben Schuster's time "sitting at the hearing," Robinson said.

He questioned why he was charged for legal costs when an attorney did not even show up for a November commission hearing. At that meeting, the panel heard a nail salon's proposed text amendment. The salon was charged $938, Robinson said.

"The village attorney is not there to assist me," he said. "The village attorney is present for the village staff and board to utilize and to ensure the process stays reasonable and legal."

He listed other suburbs that he said do not charge residents for lawyers during such hearings.

At last month's hearing, the commission favored Robinson's proposals to record its meetings and require developers to hold meetings with neighbors.

However, the commissioners disliked his proposals for further restricting developments near single-family houses.

But they agreed to further discuss the issues at their meeting this week.

At the Village Board meeting, Robinson told trustees that he was unable to continue the hearing. He said he would be charged another $1,500.

"I am unwilling to consider moving forward based on the aggressive billing that has happened by this village," he said. "Intended or not, this village has chased me away from my original goal of making things better for the next residents who would be in our family's situation from the next development project in La Grange."

Robinson lives next to a proposed 39-unit condo complex that the Villae Board approved last month. It would replace the old Jackson Square antique mall.

Village documents stated that the developer's proposal would "violate" the Robinson home's setbacks.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Trustee Beth Augustine said she realized that Robinson was unable to get through the entire process.

She said she supported Robinson's ideas to record commission meetings and require developers to hold neighborhood meetings.

"I hope we're still talking about those soon," Augustine said.

The village's staff recommended against all of Robinson's proposals.