| Popis: |
Recently, another zoning dispute surfaced over what is, and is not, a “family.” See J. Schwab, AICP, How Many Sisters Make a Family? Zoning News 4 (November 1998). Joliet, Illinois, like many other places around the country, permits up to three unrelated people to live in the same residence in a single-family zoning district. Three nuns lived together in a house in a single-family zoning district, but they wanted to bring in a fourth sister and also have up to three visitors at any given time. So, as law-abiding citizens, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart applied to the zoning board of appeals for a “variation in use,” the term of art in the Joliet zoning ordinance for special use permit. More than 100 people signed a petition opposing the application. According to the planning director, many people mistakenly be-lieved that the convent was to become a boarding house. Apparently, many of the petitioners later came to under-stand what was actually at issue in the application and that they... |
