One Urbana resident and U of I Professor is particularly unhappy with a proposed zoning change to a row of houses on West High St in Urbana. The proposal is to rezone 5 contiguous properties at the northwest portion of West High Street and South Coler Avenue from R-3 to R-5, and was first brought before the Urbana Plan Commission on November 5th (article here).
The Plan Commission voted against the rezoning request, and the request is headed for City Council review on November 16th.
Erik Sacks, an “Assistant Professor of Perennial Grass Breeding”, is so upset with the proposal that he is threatening legal action against the City of Urbana. Sacks claims that the zoning change is a “contradiction to the Master Plan”. Presumably, “Master Plan” refers to the Urbana Comprehensive Plan, which outlines zoning but also allows for the Plan Commission and the City Council to make zoning changes. In his letter to the Council, Sacks writes:
“If the proposed rezoning were to be approved, I will strongly consider taking legal action against the City of Urbana for illegally taking value from my property without compensation, and I will encourage my neighbors to do the same.”
Mr. Sacks did not cite any specific cause of action and Check CU is not aware of any legal cause of action that would allow for such a lawsuit. Though the City Council was provided with about twenty letters from the neighborhood in regards so the zoning request, no other residents made any legal threats.
Mr. Sacks’s full letter, which was included with the zoning change proposal to be heard on November 16th, can be viewed here (click for pdf):
