DuPage gets 1st look at church, mosque rules

A DuPage County Board committee is expected to get its first look at a proposed set of zoning law amendments geared toward reducing the impact of new religious facilities on unincorporated residential neighborhoods.

The suggested changes, which the county’s development committee is scheduled to review Tuesday, would address infrastructure, traffic and building size issues related to churches, mosques and other places of assembly in residential areas.

A public hearing needs to occur before a vote on the text amendments could happen in several months. None of the amendments would apply to projects already being considered by the county, including several proposed mosques.

DuPage officials say the zoning changes are needed because unincorporated residential areas don’t have the infrastructure needed to support new places of assembly. Existing roads, sewers, and septic and well systems weren’t designed for the uses, they argue.

However, DuPage officials dropped a controversial idea to prohibit new places of assembly in residential neighborhoods.

Paul Hoss, the county’s zoning coordinator, said officials simply are taking a different approach to mitigate the concerns.

“We understand that all the issues related to places of assembly in residential zoning districts are still there,” Hoss said.

DuPage already has adopted tighter parking restrictions. As a result, a future religious facility must provide one parking space for every two seats in its main worship area.

As part of the proposed text amendments, there would be greater restrictions on the size of religious buildings. That would be possible by reducing the county’s allowable floor area ratio and establishing a criteria for lot coverage. Another suggestion is to prohibit organizations from converting an existing single-family house. The groups also would need their structures to be connected to public sewer and water service.

To address concerns about traffic, places of assembly in residential areas might only be allowed along major roads. “They need to be on a roadway that can handle the traffic,” Hoss said.