Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/06/2017

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February 25, 2017 I Volume 11 I Issue 4 Zoning Bulletin The Background/Facts: Property on Grant Road (the "Property") in the Village of Lemont, Illinois ("Lemont") had been zoned by Cook County for industrial use. The Property was later annexed by Lemont and rezoned by default by Lemont to residential use. Eventually, the Property owners and prospective buyers of the Property (collectively, the "applicants") sought to develop the Property and applied to Lemont for rezoning of the Property from R-1 Single Family Residential to M-3 Heavy Manufacturing District. The applicants also submitted a development application for the Property. The Village of Willow Springs ("Willow Springs") was adjacent to Lemont. Notably, Willow Springs did not own property adjacent to the Property. Willow Springs sought to enjoin Lemont from, among other things, approving the zoning reclassification and the development application. In its legal action against Lemont, Willow Springs argued, among other things, that Lemont's approval of the application for rezoning of the Property would be "arbitrary, unreasonable, and capri- cious," and would "bear no substantial relation to public health, safety or welfare[,] and would result in special injury and damage to [Willow Spring] in its corporate capacity." More specifically, Willow Spring al- leged that unless restrained or enjoined, Lemont and the applicants would proceed with the application and a proposed "heavy industrial development," which would be "injurious to Willow Springs in that, among other things, it negatively affects the quality of life by the Vil- lage residents, property values within its borders, and the Village's growth and development." Willow Springs also alleged that approval ofthe development application would "result in irreparable harm to Willow Springs" because "the proposed development is inconsistent with the character of the adjoining area [,] . . . property values in [Wil- low Springs] will diminish[,] municipal property tax revenue will be lost[,] . . . roads will be more congested resulting in safety hazards[, and] the development will result in the degradation of air quality." Lemont asked the court to dismiss Willow Springs' action. Among other arguments, Lemont maintained that Willow Springs lacked stand- ing (i.e., the legal right to bring the action) because Willow Springs had not and could not allege that it owned or controlled any property con- tiguous to or even near the Property, and was therefore required to "al- lege and eventually prove that the rezoning would have a substantial, direct and adverse injury [on its] `corporate capacity,' " which it had not done. Willow Springs maintained that approval of the zoning reclassifica- tion and development application would "cause it to suffer the sort of injury recognized by Illinois courts as conferring standing on a municipality to challenge the zoning ordinances of other municipalities: 'a direct, substantial, and adverse effect upon the . . . performance of [its] corporate obligations.' " 6 ©2017 Thomson Reuters