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1. What is the role of the Community Development Department?

The Community Development Department is responsible for all aspects of planning, building, and zoning. The Department administers and enforces the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Ordinance, and Building Codes. The Department is responsible for providing staff assistance to a number of commissions.

The Department provides analysis and technical assistance of all items that come before the Plan Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Village Center Commission, the Appearance Review Commission, the Electrical Commission, the Board of Building Appeals, and various task forces, as well as coordinates the activities of these commissions. Building plan review, permit approval, inspection services, zoning compliance approvals for new businesses, and maintaining records of approved plans are also provided by the Department.

2. What is a Comprehensive Plan?

The Comprehensive Plan is Deerfield's road map for the future. It is an official public document that provides a long-range guide for land use, transportation, public facilities and natural resources. It serves as a guide for elected and appointed Village officials by providing a framework that can be used to evaluate development proposals and the document will direct the Village's growth in the context of a 20 to 25 year planning horizon.

The Comprehensive Plan allows residents and local decision-makers to identify and respond to changing community needs and desires in a proactive way rather than a reactive way. The current Comprehensive Plan was revised over an 18 month period and was approved in October 2004 by the Board of Trustees. View

the Comprehensive Plan.

3. What is a Special Use?

A Special Use is a use which is generally compatible with the other land uses permitted in a zoning district but which, because of its unique characteristics or potential impacts on the surrounding neighborhood and the Village as a whole, requires individual consideration of its location, design, configuration, and/or operation at the particular location proposed.

A Special Use can only be approved subject to the use meeting all of the standards and conditions imposed upon it by the Zoning Ordinance. Special Uses require a public hearing with the Plan Commission and must have final approval from the Board of Trustees. Article 13 in the Zoning Ordinance provides the standards for approval of a Special Use and the procedures for Special Use approval. See section 13.11 Special Uses, of Article 13 (PDF).

4. What is a Planned Unit Development (PUD)?

A Planned Unit Development (PUD) is an area of minimum size, as specified by the Zoning Ordinance, to be planned, developed, operated and maintained as a single entity under unified ownership or control, containing one or more principal buildings to accommodate one or more Permitted Uses or Special Uses as allowed by the underlying zoning district provisions.

5. What is a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District?

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a method for funding redevelopment activities or to renovate planning areas. The technique uses the increase in property tax revenue produced by a redevelopment project to finance the necessary public investment in that project area. The TIF allows a municipality to capture the increase in various local property taxes. It works in the following way: when a redevelopment plan is adopted, the existing total value of all taxable property in the project area is frozen at the current assessment.

Once this baseline is established, all future property tax revenues above the base generated by the redevelopment (which normally would be distributed to all taxing bodies having jurisdiction in the area) are allocated to the TIF redevelopment fund. Local taxing bodies (school districts, park district, fire protection district, etc.) continue to receive revenues generated from the current assessed valuation at the time the district is formed. Increases generated beyond this fixed amount (the increment) are paid to the TIF District. It is important to note that the tax base and not the tax revenue is frozen during the tax increment period.

As redevelopment proceeds in the TIF District, property owners pay more in taxes in correlation to the rise in their property values each year. But instead of distributing the additional property tax among the various local taxing bodies as usually done, the incremental growth in property taxes is reserved for improvements and expenses in the TIF District only. Deerfield's Village Center TIF has been a very useful tool to help revitalize the Village Center but it has now expired. The Lake Cook Road TIF expired in 2005.

6. What is the role of the Plan Commission?

The Plan Commission holds public hearings for Special Uses, Planned Unit Developments, Text Amendments, Subdivisions, Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, and other land use issues. The Plan Commission is a seven member Commission which meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Village Hall. The Plan Commission is a recommending body to the Board of Trustees.

When considering a request, the Plan Commission considers its standards, the Comprehensive Plan, the petitioner’s proposal, public input, and makes a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. The Board considers the Plan Commission’s recommendation and makes a final decision. The staff liaisons to the Plan Commission are Jeff Ryckaert, Principal Planner, who can be reached at 847-719-7482; and Dan Nakahara, Planner, who can be reached at 847-719-7480.

7. What is the role of the Appearance Review Commission?

The Appearance Review Commission (ARC) has jurisdiction within the Village Center boundaries and in the C-2 Outlying Commercial District. The ARC is a seven member Commission which meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Village Hall. Any exterior changes which would require a building permit or a deviation from an approved PUD need a certificate of approval issued by the ARC, including changes to building façades, sites, landscaping, and signs. The staff liaison to the ARC is Liz Delevitt, Planning and Design Specialist, who can be reached at 847-719-7483.