The following research alleges that the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and DuPage County entered into an illegal Intergovernmental Agreement to exempt the Forest Preserve from County Zoning Ordinance in violation of the requirements of State Statues that require a public hearing when Zoning Ordinances are changed. Several other violations of Citizen rights are also explored and backed up with citations from legal case law, including Illinois State Supreme Court decisions, that show that the Forest Preserve is not unconditionally exempt from County Zoning Ordinances.
We have had this research reviewed by several attorneys, one of which was involved in aspects of contributing to the State’s Zoning Statutes. We are attempting to solve these issues out of Court in order to save tax payer dollars and therefore we have contacted both the Forest Preserve and DuPage County Board Chairmen. We are making some progress with the County Board Chairman, Dan Cronin. We have also contacted the Illinois Attorney General, and our State Representative, Mike Fortner, for their help.
These efforts are being led by the West-Win Forest Preserve Fleet Maintenance Building Subcommittee Chair, Shannon Burns, and by West-Win President, Dennis Clark. Hundreds of hours have been spent by these volunteers to help protect your neighborhood from being turned into a Forest Preserve industrial complex. The Forest Preserve has already made significant progress toward this outcome with the latest addition of a CNG (compressed natural gas) station in a residential neighborhood along Mack Rd.
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DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that the author of the following document is NOT AN ATTORNEY and does not purport to give legal advice. It is solely the result of the author doing research using the DuPage County Law Library and the results of many Freedom of Information Act requests directed to the County and the Forest Preserve.