Elgin aims to make review process easier

If you want develop land, erect a new building or open a new business in Elgin, you have to jump through hoops like in any other community.

But Elgin leaders are exploring ways to make their review process for new projects more efficient, predictable and accountable.

One way is to have better communication between various departments - engineering, zoning and the fire department - to name a few.

And instead of 30 days to complete a review, make it 20.

Staff members also should return phone calls within a day and e-mails in two days.

These were among a batch of recommendations Elgin City Council members accepted Wednesday night from an Aurora-based consulting firm Sikich LLC.

The firm, hired last fall, interviewed a combination of 40 city staff members, developers, attorneys and others.

"The last decade has been challenging (for the city staff)," said Larry Maholland, the firm's director of governmental strategic planning and performance measurement. "You've had unprecedented development and that's a good thing."

Large scale projects involving dozens, if not hundreds of homes, still will take longer to get approved because they must endure the scrutiny of the city's planning and development commission and a final city council vote.

Some developers told Sikich the city's process was difficult or tough to understand.

Elgin City Manager Femi Folarin said the recent slowdown in construction provided an opportunity for the staff to take a good, tough look at itself.

"This is an ideal time for us to do it because development is a little bit slow," he said.

He said officials will meet early next week to talk about how to implement the changes.

Maholland declined to elaborate on which of the nine recommendations the city should strive to enact first.

"They're all interrelated, They're all important," he said.