2.28 – Plan Commission

The Plan Commission of the City shall consist of nine members who shall be appointed by the Mayor with the advice and advise and concent of the City Council.  All members of the Plan Commission shall be residents of the City at the time of their appointment, and a member who moves outside the City shall no longer be eligible to serve on the Plan Commission.  The Mayor shall appoint members residing on either side (east and west) of the Fox River, with a goal of providing a geographic balance of members on the Plan Commission.

In making appointments to the Plan Commission, the Mayor may consider the following guidelines:

1. Approximately half of the Commission should have education, job experience or significant volunteer experience in fields related to planning or land development, such as real estate, landscape architecture, community planning, civil engineering, etc.
2. The remainder of the Commission membership should have a demonstrated interest in the future of the St. Charles community by participation in a community group or other activity related to the public interest.

Plan Commission members shall each be appointed for a term of four years, and their terms shall be staggered so that each year the terms of two or three members will expire.  However, the three year terms of members appointed prior to May 1998 shall continue until their expiration, and thereafter shall be converted to a four year cycle according to the following schedule:

         Two 3-year terms expiring in 1999: Four year term expiring in 2003

         One 3-year term expiring in 1999: Five year term expiring in 2004

         Two 3-year terms expiring in 2000: Five-year term expiring in 2005

         One 3-year term expiring in 2000: Four-year term expiring in 2004

The terms of all members shall expire on the first Monday in May in the last year of their respective terms, regardless of the actual date of their appointment.  Members whose terms have expired may continue to serve until a successor is appointed, except in the case of a member removed for cause.  Vacancies in an unexpired term due to resignation may be filled by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the City Council.

The Plan Commission shall elect a chairman and such other officers as it may determine, at the first regular meeting in May of each year, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable.  In the event of an officer’s resignation from that office or from the Commission, the Commission shall elect a replacement officer as soon as is practicable.

The Plan Commission shall meet at such times as it may determine.  Special meetings may be called by the Mayor, the chairman or by any two members of the Commission.  A majority of the Plan Commission members then holding office shall constitute a quorum.  Final action shall be taken upon measures before the Plan Commission with a concurrence of a majority of the members present, provided a quorum is present.

The plan commission shall have the following powers:

1. To prepare and recommend to the corporate authorities a comprehensive plan for the present and future development or redevelopment of the city.  Such plan may be adopted in whole or in separate geographical or functional parts, each of which, when adopted, shall be the official Comprehensive Plan, or part thereof, of the City.  This plan may include reasonable requirements with reference to streets, alleys, public grounds, and other improvements hereinafter specified.  The Plan, as recommended by the Plan Commission and as thereafter adopted, may be made applicable, by the terms thereof, to land situated within the corporate limits and contiguous territory not more than one and one-half miles beyond the corporate limits and not included in any municipality.  Such plan may be implemented by ordinances to implement the following provisions:
   
   1. Establishing reasonable standards of design for subdivisions and for re-subdivisions of unimproved land and of areas subject to redevelopment in respect to public improvements as herein defined,
   2. Establishing reasonable requirements governing the location, width, course, and surfacing of public streets and highways, alleys, ways for public service facilities, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street lights, parks, playgrounds, school grounds, size of lots to be used for residential purposes, stormwater drainage, water supply and distribution, sanitary sewers, and sewage collection and treatment, and
   3. May designate land suitable for annexation to the municipality and the recommended zoning classification, for such land upon annexation;
2. To recommend changes, from time to time, in the official Comprehensive Plan;
3. To prepare and recommend to the corporate authorities, from time to time, plans for specific improvements in pursuance of the official Comprehensive Plan;
4. To give aid to the municipal officials charged with the direction of projects for improvements embraced within the official Plan, to further the making of these projects, and, generally, to promote the realization of the official Comprehensive Plan;
5. To exercise such other powers as may be conferred by the City Council (cross referenced to Section 17.04 of the City Code regarding powers and duties).