An open house will be held tonight for
members of the community and anyone interested in a potential development at
the northeast corner of Richmond Road and Pearl Street. The open house is an additional step being taken
by the developer to answer questions, display renderings and conceptual plans
regarding a proposed 25-dwelling unit project for people with physical and
sensory impairments.
Part of our job at the City is to monitor
social media to ensure accurate information is being communicated and this was
one of the primary reasons for commencing this blog. Recent statements about the proposed project,
referenced above, on social media were simply untrue and erroneous.
People certainly have the right to say
whatever they want and the City is not in the business of engaging in bantering
on social media because it is not a productive use of our time or taxpayer
dollars. However, in this particular
instance some of the statements made on social media about this project were
inaccurate and represented nothing more than sensationalized hyperbole. This
does a disservice to the developer, project, property owner, and the public
(people who read and may believe these comments), but most importantly our
community.
Our job is to ensure everyone is provided
a fair opportunity and afforded proper due process because projects such as the
one proposed may be beneficial to our community. However if it is not given proper consideration
this may not occur, and in the age of social media this is increasingly
challenging.
This project will follow the normal
course of action as every other project in the City does, which requires
Planning and Zoning Commission review.
The open house is an additional effort taken by the developer to provide
an opportunity to review the plans and ask questions in a more informal
setting.
Following the open house tonight, which
anyone can attend, there will be a public hearing before the Planning and
Zoning Commission on August 16, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. at the City of McHenry Municipal
Center, 333 S Green Street, McHenry, IL 60050. This
meeting is also open to the public. The
Planning and Zoning Commission is a recommending body, therefore the project
will ultimately be approved, approved with conditions, or denied by the City
Council at a meeting in early September, which is also open to the public.
There are numerous opportunities to offer comments on the project
and ask questions but the bottom-line is to become informed before formulating
an opinion or rendering judgment. Review
the plans and staff report or you can do one or more of the following:
· Attend the
open house tonight to learn more about the project, developers, potential
impacts on the neighborhood and City;
· Contact me
by phone, email or come in to review the plans and ask questions/talk about the
project (all my contact information follows);
· Write a
letter and send to the Municipal Center-write my name, Douglas Martin, on the
envelope, and I can read your comments into the public record at the Planning
and Zoning Commission Meeting, and I will also provide the letter to the
Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. You can also place the letter
in the drop box next to the U.S. Post Office Box at the Municipal Center-put my
name on it and I will ensure it’s distributed;
· Contact any
of the Planning and Zoning Commission and/or City Council members outside
of the aforementioned formal meetings
and offer comments;
· Come to the
Planning and Zoning Commission Public Hearing and provide comments, statements,
opinions, ask questions of myself, the developer and/or the Planning and Zoning
Commission members;
· Attend the
City Council meeting and make a statement about the project.
We do not have an obligation to accept
any project which may have adverse impacts and not be beneficial to the
immediate neighborhood or City of McHenry.
We do have the responsibility as a community to consider every project
which comes forward - each application filed must be reviewed. It does not need to be approved, altered or
even enhanced, however spreading untrue information inherently taints this
process!
Douglas
P. Martin
Director
of Economic Development
City
of McHenry
333
S Green Street
McHenry,
IL 60050
815.363.2110
(d)
815.363.2173
(f)
815.790.4752
(c)
@mchmarketpulse
