Residents outraged as Board votes for hearing to oust ZBA Chairman Tom Nelson
On Tuesday, October 2 the Hinsdale Board of Trustees voted 4 to 2 to hold a public hearing to remove the Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Tom Nelson on charges that the board alleged but refused to detail. Trustees Tom Cauley and Mike Smith voted against the motion. Hinsdale residents came out in force to support Chairman Nelson, a long-time resident and volunteer. The crowd spilled over to the hallway of the Memorial Building, where chairs were set up and the proceedings delivered by an audio feed. For nearly two hours, residents expressed their support for Nelson, their dismay at the direction the Trustees were taking, and their concerns about the chilling effects the removal of Nelson would have on the volunteer process going forward.
What are the charges?
As stated in a letter to Tom Nelson, Mike Woerner alleged that Nelson had failed to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request made by attorneys of Foxford, LLC, the developers of the proposed Hinsdale Club. The board also questioned the legality of two unanimous decisions of the ZBA: the vote to adopt ZBA rules and procedures as well as the dismissal of Ken Florey, the village attorney, in a case where he was also representing the Hinsdale Board of Trustees. The most contentious issue, according to Woerner, was Tom Nelson's failure to dismiss "the residents' illegal appeal” of the Hinsdale Club, an Ogden Avenue hotel and condominium project, which would have required 75 Zoning Code variances and was unanimously approved by the village board. Resident Nick Etten challenged Woerner's characterization that the appeal was “illegal" and stated that the US Constitution always protects citizens' rights to appeal to their government.
What is the toll?
Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals who serve with Chairman Nelson and are familiar with the issues raised in the allegations were among Nelson's staunchest defenders. Fellow ZBA member John Richter stated that while he might not always agree with Chairman Nelson, he did not deserve to be singled out for removal. “Tom Nelson is my friend. Tom Nelson is a decent man, a dedicated public servant, and I urge the board to terminate further consideration to remove him,” Richter stated. ZBA member Kim Angelo made an impassioned defense of Chairman Nelson's actions and highlighted the quandary of serving on the ZBA. "There is no way to calculate the personal toll all this is exacting, but I believe it is significant," Angelo stated. "Because of the nature of what the ZBA does, its members are constrained from commenting on matters publicly, in private, or in real time; something our detractors use to bludgeon us, and Tom in particular, in the press and in the salons of town, without fear of
contradiction."
Board to be accuser, judge and jury
The only lobbyist for Nelson's removal was architect Michael Meissner, who complained of not being shown the respect he felt he deserved by Chairman Nelson in a hearing where the ZBA denied Meissner permission to retro-fit an elevator on the exterior of a downtown structure, in violation of the zoning code. Meissner later received permission to install his elevator, after an ordinance was introduced by village staff and passed by the Trustees, including Jean Follett, who argued that the approval was not specifically tailored to Meissner's requirements but anticipated a future trend. Past ZBA member Michael Ripani disagreed with Meissner's interpretation of the ZBA denial and stood repeatedly to question the propriety of the Trustees' methods in Chairman Nelson's removal process. Once deliberations had started, Mr. Ripani, one of several resident attorneys in the audience, pressed the board to demonstrate that they had provided detailed written charges to the ZBA Chairman and given him adequate time to respond before a public hearing was scheduled. Village Attorney Ken Florey replied that the charges are "information for the public hearing" and would not be formalized until after the public hearing was approved. Florey added that Board of Trustees would serve as the hearing body and the deciding body; in effect, the accuser, the judge, and the jury, with respect to Chairman Nelson's case.
Residents' pleas rejected
Trustees Vic Orler, Cindy Williams, Bob Schultz and Jean Follett were indifferent to the impassioned and articulate appeals of one speaker after another, who testified to Nelson's character and expertise, enumerating the reasons why he should not be removed. Regardless of these declarations, Trustee Orler insisted that he had only heard the "village's position" on this matter, but not the "other side", and called for a hearing to help clear up the issue in his mind. Trustee Williams, an attorney, enumerated a long list of reasons why she wasn't willing to subject Nelson to a public hearing, but that her sense of fiduciary responsibility and desire to uphold the law motivated her to support such action. Trustee Tom Cauley, the other attorney on the board, who dialed into the meeting from a trial location, was incensed that Trustees would take this costly and ill-advised path, in spite of his earlier objections. Trustee Mike Smith reiterated Cauley's appeal to change course on the plan to remove the ZBA Chair and pointed to the board's own legally contestable actions. Resident Bob Barr urged the trustees to leave their agenda at the door, a sentiment echoed by Trustee Smith.
Schultz: "No Comment"
Despite insistence from audience members to express an opinion on the subject, Trustee Bob Schultz simply stated “no comment” and cast his vote for Nelson's removal process to begin. Since he was seated as a Trustee in May of this year, Schultz has consistently voted with Trustee Vic Orler on every issue, including a vote in favor of additional spending on consultants, reneging on a campaign promise to limit such spending, as ZBA member Bill Haarlow pointed out. Haarlow quipped that Hinsdale, which earned the dubious distinction of being the "teardown capital of the United States” in a 2006 USA Today article, might now be called the "consultant capital” of the nation.
$1,594,751 on consultants
Other residents echoed the criticism of the excessive spending on
consultants. Since May 2005, when Mike Woerner took office the village has spent $1,594,751 on consultants [as of Sept. 07]. At their next village board meeting, Oct. 16, Trustees will consider the allocation of an additional $200,000 to hire Camiros, the planning consultants who were the successful bidders on a project to rewrite the Village's Zoning Code and the firm that represented the developer on the Maple Street rezoning project in mid-2006, which failed to get village approval. The hiring of Camiros, many
feel, would be just another step in the present Board’s unrelenting quest to rewrite the Zoning Code to facilitate denser development. [More Monitor information on consultants and zoning issues to follow]
Hearing date set
The Public Hearing to remove Chairman Nelson has tentatively been scheduled for Saturday, Nov 17, 2007. Please plan to attend. Check with the Monitor for a location and time. [Editor's note: Hearing date has been changed to Oct. 30, 2007.]