Right Voices

And a 22,000-square-foot, $7.5 million building decorated with a bright pink banner somehow says that society has evolved into the 21st century?

City officials would not provide occupancy permits while they tried to determine if local laws were followed when Planned Parenthood applied for building permits under a subsidiary, Gemini Office Development.

Planned Parenthood officials said they did so to protect the clinic’s staff and construction workers from round-the-clock protests, but there was no effort to defraud city officials.

“We have no regrets about how we went about this process,” Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, said Tuesday. “We kept it private from our opponents, and we did it for good reason.”

Jill provided this info:

According to Aurora zoning ordinances, a special use permit requires public notice in a local paper and public hearings, and property owners nearby can raise objections to the use. If 20% object, a supermajority of the City Council (2/3) must approve the use….

See zoning ordinances here.

From the Chicago Tribune

Planned Parenthood did not get a special-use permit required by the City of Aurora for non-profit organizations before building its controversial new clinic, opponents said at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, adding it was the “silver bullet” that could keep the clinic from ever opening.
Peter Breen, an intellectual property lawyer who directs a network of crisis pregnancy centers in Lombard and Downers Grove, is credited with finding the zoning provision, which was confirmed by city officials.

“Every brick, every sheet of bulletproof glass is illegal,” Breen said outside the meeting, punctuated with chants both for and against the clinic by some 500 demonstrators. He added that he intends to seek destruction of the 22,000-square-foot, $7.5 million clinic at New York Street and Oakhurst Drive….

Aurora zoning law requires a special-use permit for a non-profit medical clinic. To acquire such a permit, the applicant must schedule a public hearing, notify property owners within 250 feet of the proposed building and advertise the hearing in a local newspaper, [Aurora spokeswoman Carie Anne] Ergo said.

None of that happened in this case….

With that in mind:

On Monday, Mayor Tom Weisner said that Planned Parenthood was “less than forthcoming” when it used a subsidiary to build a clinic in this Chicago suburb, but attorney reviews found no legal basis to deny an occupancy permit.

Here is his contact information

City Hall
44 East Downer Place
Aurora, IL 60507
Mon-Fri 8am – 5pm
(630) 264-INFO (4636)
mayorsoffice@aurora-il.org