The post is in response to the multiple emails I received asking for an explanation of what the legal options are here. In lieu of responding to each email, here is a summary.
Such a case would allege constitutional violations: in the Village's decision-making and review. Basically, the Village failed to follow the principles of procedural and substantive due process.
Procedural is whether the Village’s legal notice was sufficient.
Substantive is whether the rezoning is “arbitrary, capricious or unrelated to the public health, safety, and morals”.
As a starting point, the potential plaintiffs in such a lawsuit would need to consider whether they can get past a Village motion to dismiss that they lack “standing” to file a lawsuit. "Standing" is a legal phrase that looks to whether the plaintiffs have a sufficient personal claim, status, or right which is capable of being affected by the relief requested in the lawsuit.
To have standing, the interest alleged to be invaded must be a private right of the plaintiff, rather than an injury common to the public.
Thus, while the impacts from this logistics campus will be broader than just to the properties near it: traffic, noise, pollution, etc., a Village motion to dismiss would argue that most property owners have no standing to challenge them in court.
Who can challenge the Village without question? Potential plaintiffs who could sue here without question are small.
Section 11–13–15 of the Illinois Municipal Code gives special rights to owners of real property within 1200 feet in any direction of property allegedly used in violation of municipal or local ordinances, to seek a variety of equitable and monetary remedies for the alleged violations. (65 ILCS 5/11–13–15)
That section states an owner does not have to “prove specific, special or unique damages to himself or his property or any adverse effect upon his property from the alleged violation in order to maintain a suit under the foregoing provisions.”
The purpose of this section is to afford relief to private landowners in cases where municipal officials are slow or reluctant to act, or where their actions do not protect the landowners' interests.
In this case, you end up with a small number that can sue without the Village trying to dismiss their case outright that they lack standing.
No doubt, the Village had already calculated that risk of lawsuit, considering that some are Northbrook (can't vote them out), and are just assuming it.
What is "legal" is a separate topic from what is "good" government.
Glenview does have an affinity for the court system. While the Village of Glenview might not be willing to litigate against a developer, like Dermody Properties, or another municipality, like the City of Prospect Heights, I can tell you from personal experience that the Village very much enjoys litigating against opponents that it perceives as weaker than them.
If such a lawsuit were filed by neighboring property owners here, the unfortunate reality here is that as currently run, the Village would be more than willing to commit substantial public money to fight in court.
Here, public money the Village was unwilling to spend on third-party experts to review the developer’s representations on the impact of their project will end up being spent on attorneys.
Here are the deadlines:
ANNEXATION to Glenview. 1-year deadline. July 5, 2023.
Section 7–1–46 of the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/7–1–46) provides that a complaint directly or indirectly challenging the annexation of territory to a municipality must be filed no later than a year after the annexation becomes final.
REZONING TO “I-2 Light Industrial District”, once annexed. 90-day deadline. October 17, 2022.
Section 11-13-25 of the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/11-13-25) provides that an aggrieved party may bring a complaint in circuit court challenging zoning relief within 90 days. In theory, if the annexation were successfully challenged (1-year), the rezoning would be tossed, too.
July 19, 2022 is the Board of Trustees’ second consideration of the ordinance granting approval of the rezoning that authorizes the Dermody Logistics Center to be built. The 90 days start from that date.
Hope that answers the questions.
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William J. Seitz
Chair,1850 Glenview Road Facts
1850glenviewroadfacts@gmail.com
WJS
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