Lake County Gazette

The village of Beach Park makes some adjustments to its housing codes.

“Now, it has evolved from when this document was first presented, we've tried to streamline some of the areas of the code to make it more user-friendly, economically, more doable for residents,” Trustee Larry Wells said during the meeting. “We've eliminated some code that we thought would make our building construction, not cheaper, but more financially doable for our residents. Some of those that we addressed were allowing the use of romex wiring as opposed to conduit, which romex is actually using. Probably 90% of US single-family homes out  in the country. So we wanted to make it available for our residents as well.”

The board uploaded a live stream of its public meeting to the Village’s YouTube.

At their April 13th village board meeting, officials from Beach Park were presented with two items from their planning and zoning departments for their approval. The first was an amendment to building code regulations. These amendments are clarifications and updates for the housing code to reflect current practices and interests. The amendment will also move all their rental, housing, foreclosure, and vacancy registration programs into one central location alongside the business license program in the village to make this easier for residents to navigate and complete per village code.

The board also discussed an ordinance to amend codes regarding building regulations.

Wells was very confident in the code changes, which would allow greater freedom for residents to build and renovate their homes within the community, and he felt the code would better serve the residents in line with the village’s priorities. He thanked the large number of village staff who had worked endless hours on this, vetting and approving materials and methods for building to ensure their safety before deeming them okay for residents to use. The other board members agreed and voted to approve the amendments and changes.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Village Hall 11270 West Wadsworth Road.

Trustee Wells shared that while code normally receives updates about every three years with a code cycle, the village has not worked on these parts of the code for over 16 years. The board members also approved a resolution regarding the new program that encompasses all the registration programs within the village: business license, rental housing, foreclosures, and vacancies, as well as their water and sewer forms and miscellaneous items like chicken coops and renting the community room. All the forms and permits are now listed by category under one page on the village website, and link residents to the proper paper work and instructions for all potential uses.