Public hearing set on
zoning change for CILAs

[SEPT. 3, 2002]  A public hearing has been set for Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. in the city council meeting room on an ordinance change that will allow Community Integrated Living Arrangements, or CILAs, to be constructed in areas zoned R-1.

The change must be made to meet federal guidelines under the Fair Housing Act, according to city attorney Bill Bates. The council will vote on the change at its regular voting session on Sept. 16.

If passed, the ordinance will allow these eight-person units for the developmentally disabled to be constructed in R-1 areas of the city which previously did not permit them.

A lawsuit was filed against the city in Federal Court in May of this year by Community Services Foundation, Inc., and Charleston Transitional Facility, Inc., part of the Alan G. Ryle Companies, for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act, after the city refused to issue the companies a building permit for a lot in Stonebridge subdivision that was zoned R-1.

David Krchak, attorney for Charleston Transitional Facility, Inc., said the firm would drop the lawsuit if the city amended its zoning ordinance and gave the firm the building permit. He said the firm would like to begin building the CILA in Stonebridge as soon as possible.

[Joan Crabb]

[SEPT. 3, 2002]  SPRINGFIELD — The 14 Illinois residents who died during the Persian Gulf War will soon have a memorial in their honor at Springfield’s Oak Ridge Cemetery. House Bill 1033, supported by Sen. Larry Bomke, allows construction of the memorial at the local cemetery.

"Oak Ridge Cemetery is already home to memorials commemorating other wars and battles as well as being the resting place of President Abraham Lincoln," said Bomke. "I think it is fitting that it also house the Gulf War Memorial."

House Bill 1033, now law, specifically allows the construction of a Gulf War Memorial at Oak Ridge Cemetery on Springfield’s north side.

Oak Ridge Cemetery is the second most visited cemetery in the nation. It is home to Lincoln’s Tomb, the Illinois Korean War Memorial and the Illinois Vietnam Veteran Memorial as well as the burial place for other notable historical figures, including labor leader John L. Lewis, the famous poet Vachel Lindsay, four Illinois governors and Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon.

Veterans groups had requested the Illinois Gulf War Memorial, and the General Assembly approved the legislation this spring. It was signed into law Aug. 16.

[News release]

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