(A) Hearings — open meetings. All hearings shall be held in a public place and shall be open to the public in accordance with state legislation regarding open meetings. The presence of a majority of the members of the Planning and Zoning Board shall constitute a quorum at the meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board. At any hearing, any person may appear and be heard either in person or by an authorized agent or attorney. The body conducting the hearing may set its own rules for the conduct of its meetings consistent with the provisions of the Village of Tolono Municipal Code and the laws of the State of Illinois.
(B) Continuances. Once a public hearing is opened, it shall only be closed by a majority of a quorum of the hearing body. By its own motion, or on approval of requests by applicants or their authorized agents, the hearing body may continue the public hearing from time to time. Continuances shall be permitted only for good cause, stated in the motion and shall be made to a date and time certain. If the time and place of the commencement of the next public hearing is not announced at the scheduled hearing, such continuances shall require a new public notice in accordance with this subchapter. The applicant or other interested parties may request no more than two continuances for a period of not more than 60 days each and not more than 120 days total from the date the public hearing was opened.
(C) Decisions.
(1) Decisions of the Planning and Zoning Board on minor variations and other items noted elsewhere in this chapter shall be final. Decisions of the Planning and Zoning Board on major variations, map and text amendments, provisional and special uses, and planned unit developments shall be in the form of a recommendation to the Village Board of Trustees. The recommendation shall include any recommended conditions to be placed on the action requested, if conditions are authorized by this chapter.
(2) If the Planning and Zoning Board recommends to the Village Board of Trustees to approve a petition, the Village Board of Trustees may approve such petition by a simple majority of the quorum present. If the Planning and Zoning Board recommends that the petition be denied, the Village Board of Trustees may only approve such petition by at least a favorable vote of four members of the Village Board of Trustees. All testimony, exhibits, plans, or specifications which were considered by the Planning and Zoning Board shall be made a part of the record of the case.
(D) Protest. If a valid written protest against any map amendment, provisional or special use, or planned unit development is filed with the Village Clerk, then the action shall only be approved by the favorable vote of four members of the Village Board of Trustees. A valid protest shall meet the following criteria:
(1) A valid protest shall be filed with the Village Clerk by 5:00 p.m. three business days before final action by Village Board of Trustees is scheduled to occur.
(2) (a) A written protest shall be signed by the owners of 40% or more of either:
1. The lots proposed to be altered, or
2. The lots, any part of which, are immediately adjoining, across from an alley or directly opposite the frontage proposed to be altered.
(b) If any lot or property, which meets the requirements of this division (D)(2) has multiple owners, such lot shall be counted as protesting if at least 50% of all owners of such lot signed the protest document.
(3) The document shall identify the proposed zoning action, shall contain a statement of protest against the proposal, and shall attest that the signatories are the legal owners of property identified therein.
(4) The document shall bear the signatures and common street addresses of those signing the document, and identify the property which each signatory owns.
(Ord. 2020-O-3, passed 2-18-2020)