Campton Hills drops zoning citation against trustee

Village officials have dropped an alleged zoning violation against Campton Hills Trustee Janet Burson.

The village cited Burson in January, alleging she was running a massage therapy service as a home-based business because she included her home address on her website.

She had faced fines of up to $750 per day.

During an adjudication hearing on Tuesday, Burson presented the hearing officer Tom Elsner with a 12-page motion to dismiss from her attorney.

“Village, I’ll give you time to respond,” Elsner said to Building and Zoning Officer James Brown and Village Administrator Mark Rooney. “Do you want 30 days to respond? Or do you just want to do something today?”

Brown responded that Burson was in compliance and agreed to dismiss the complaint.

Burson said it was unfortunate that a person cited under the village’s code needs to hire an attorney.

“The question is, what happens next? What happens tomorrow? Next week? Next month?” Burson said. “It’s a broader issue of what the village can and can’t do with regulating home-based businesses. I think the motion (to dismiss) makes a good argument that this was not a violation.”

Rooney said the village got what it wanted – Burson’s compliance in removing her address from her website and removing a calendar where a client can make appointments.

“The village is happy to be at the point of dismissal because her attorney gave us in writing that she is now in compliance and not advertising her home-based business,” Rooney said.

Burson maintained that she did not operate a massage therapy business, West Suburban Pain Relief, out of her home and travels to see clients she used to have in Oak Park. Burson also said the calendar function to make appointments had been disabled.