It is good news that the River Forest Tennis Club has fully withdrawn its application to install lights at its Lathrop Avenue facility. After first scaling back its proposal to light all 10 of its tennis courts and instead lighting just 6, the private club has now pulled back its application.
Unclear if it will return in some other form at some other moment. The tennis club has been fully closed-mouthed about its plans throughout this public debate. So we will see.
We understand that under village code, proposals related to zoning at recreation-related entities are sent to the Development Review Board for consideration. While that seems clear under the code, it also makes no sense in terms of fairness and public perception as four of its seven members are also members of the tennis club. That is a point we’ve made on this page and that critics of the lights have also raised as an ethical concern.
Village President Adduci, who inevitably is going to defend her volunteer commissioners, says she and the village take their cues on such matters from the village attorney. And Lance Molina, she told our Gregg Voss, has said the DRB members can hear the case and make a recommendation to the village board so long as they feel they can be “impartial.”
We’re not casting aspersions on any member of this commission and we thank them for their service. We are raising doubts that any recommendation that ever comes from this group will be seen by the public as impartial.
This pause should allow the village to come up with Plan B on how it might better resolve this issue.
