Dupage Policy Journal

The Roselle Village Board discussed new zoning ordinances during a meeting held on Feb. 27.

In 2019, Roselle hired urban planning and design firm Teska Associates and law firm Ancel Glink to update their city zoning key, which was a part of Roselle's 2016 comprehensive plan. From the COVID-19 pandemic onward, the firm consultants, Village staff, and committee members held public open houses, meetings with the Planning & Zoning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Village Board, and talked to Roselle residents, stakeholders, business owners and contractors to get an understanding of the best practices needed for creating the new key. Since the zoning ordinances had not been updated since 1985, the Village Board felt that the time had come to create a more modern and relevant guide for both residents and Village officials to follow.

During the meeting, the board welcomed Teska Associates representative Michael Blue and Ancel Glink representative David Silverman to discuss their findings and their suggested changes. The representatives explained the process steps beyond meeting with stakeholders and village groups. They also reviewed the draft code with City staff and legal counsel to ensure both legality and best practices.

They are currently in the adoption phase, during which each concerned board—the Village board, Planning & Zoning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals—is presented the ordinance for their approval and also some instruction regarding how to use and follow the guide. A full list of changes, such as fencing and signage, will be posted on the official Roselle website.

While no major changes were made to the zoning codes, they were still thoroughly dissected. The biggest change was modernizing and simplifying the wording to make it clearer and easier to understand. The zoning district was reorganized, and many of the parking regulations were updated to better fit current municipal guidelines. Additionally, some adjustments were made to reflect changes to state and local laws, and numerous tables and charts were also added for better explanations and to increase reading comprehension.

"There was a lot of discussion we started about the value of design guidelines here in town, it was part of your town center plan," Blue said. "In fact, the town center plan guidelines are incorporated for this area. There are also guidelines incorporated for other commercial and industrial areas. The way that will work is developments that would otherwise have gone for special use or planned development or would come before you anyway, the new Combined Commission and you all will be the ones reviewing this. For elements of it, if somebody comes in for a new awning or is changing the facade of a building, that will be done administratively, not a new building, something that's already there."

The board accepted the updates and adopted the new code with a series of motions.