Public Comments of Oct. 9, 2007
La Grange Plan Commission
Hearing on Proposal for La Grange Place

Joan Hoigard, 345 Sixth Ave

I was present at the last meeting. Mr. Holder, [pro tem chairman, presiding over the hearing], at the end of the meeting you asked a question about whether or not you would be hearing from the Park District Board and the Village Attorney explained, as you pointed out tonight, that this [Commission] does not have any authority over the Park District—that the Park Distict does not answer to you.

I would propose that that cuts both ways. We sat very patiently through the last meeting and listened to the developer make claims like, "Loss of park space is offset by improvements to Gordon Park," and under the Benefits to Community [outlined by the developer were] "improvements to Gordon Park."

It would seem that if the developer is allowed to talk about how his development is going to benefit the park, then he should be required to validate that statement. There should be some testimony from the Park District validating that there will indeed be improvements to Gordon Park as a result of this [project].

If that [testimony] is not going to happen, it would seem that [the developer] should not be allowed to include any reference to what may or may not happen at Gordon Park in any of their presentations, and that you should not consider it as part of the deliberations.

We should not be muzzled if they are not muzzled on the same topic.