Effingham, Il – Last night during the Effingham Planning Commission meeting, outraged citizens came forth against the proposal of a new apartment complex.
The petitioner, Dean Bingham, made the proposal, and in it wanted to rezone 4 lots in the area. from single-family homes to multi-family residences.
Bingham, along with his developer Jim Zimmer were already considering the change of the 4 lots before 5 lots in the area were bought by Zimmer.
If rezoned, the lots would have apartments that would be three-stories high housing 24 units each.
Unfortunately for Bingham, and Zimmer residents in the area were not for the new rezoning.
Amy Blanchette, one of the 20 who opposed shared she moved to that part of Effingham to get away from the crime, and if the apartments were put in place she feared she would be put in the position she was in before.
Amy’s Concerns:
Another citizen who opposed the idea was Rob Brown, a member of the water authority board, had experience in this particular situation a while back over a similar issue.
Brown felt the petitioners had more than just that area to have these dwellings, and felt they should move to a different area.
The opposition shared their concerns for over 2 hours during the meeting.
After a second recess Bingham decided to withdraw his petition, and a motion was made to allow for the withdrawal.
Tracy Willenborg, Efffingham City Attorney, did make it clear that while this petition was withdrawn there is always a possibility for another petition to be made in the future.
This was something that hadn’t happened before during a meeting, but after listening to the concerns of the citizens in the room, they felt it was necessary.