Homer Glen’s Plan Commission this week voted to recommend an amendment to the village’s zoning ordinance that would regulate charitable drop boxes.
“It would require the operators of the facilities to have a license with the village,” said Erin Venard, the village staff liaison to the Plan Commission.
Charitable drop boxes to collect items such as clothes and toys have started popping up in the village, which currently has a total of nine drop boxes, Venard said.
“I mean some of these obviously are unsightly,” said plan commission Chairman Kevin Hoffmeister. He said that materials can overflow when no one picks up donations and that drop boxes can look “beat up.”
An annual license for a charitable drop box would be free under the proposed zoning ordinance amendment, but to obtain it, operators would be required to provide proof of 5013c status as well as a phone number and address for the village to contact if drop box items were overflowing and needed to be picked up, Venard said. The drop boxes, which would be limited in number, would need to be kept neat and orderly without blocking entrances, exits and views of oncoming traffic, Plan Commission officials said.
“We propose to only allow three drop boxes on each site,” Venard said.
The Plan Commission on Sept. 15, with two members absent, unanimously voted to recommend the proposed amendment. The village board will probably consider the proposed amendment, which was initiated by the Administration and Finance Committee, at the next scheduled village board meeting later this month, Venard said.
In other news, a barber shop owner who put Christmas lights around his sign to attract customers, was ticketed for violation of the village’s sign ordinance, said Plan Commission officials, who discussed the topic at the Sept. 15 meeting. The man suspected that a salon owner had tattled on him and he provided photos of other businesses in the village who had committed the same violation, said member Jay Bradarich, explaining that the barber shop owner had sent him a letter.
“He put lights around the sign, and it is quite bright,” Bradarich said, also expressing some sympathy for the salon owner trying to attract business.
