The Salem Lakes Village Board on Monday opted to send two ongoing issues to committee.
In some municipalities that would a routine action, but Salem Lakes has not had standing committees, instead discussing and researching issues through a committee of the whole system that involves all members of the Village Board.
Ordinances on chicken keeping and fireworks sales were at issue.
With chicken keeping, there was a recent request for a variance from the current village ordinance’s limit of a two-acre property as well as building public sentiment expressed by several board members to allow chickens on smaller lots.
On fireworks, two companies allowed last year to sell fireworks from tents rather than permanent structures were looking to be able to do that again this year, even though the tent provision has expired.
Both issues were noticed on the agenda of a special board meeting Monday for discussion and possible action.
But Trustee Bill Hopkins said he felt these type of issues ought to be referred to a separate committee for a thorough vetting process instead of the whole board passing a law and then finding the need to revisit it.
Separate votes to move review of the fireworks ordinance and chicken keeping ordinance to committee passed the board unanimously.
But an open question is what that committee or committees will look like and who will serve on them.
“My take on the desires of the majority is that instead of going back and forth on these ordinances, we form a committee from a couple of trustees along with a couple of residents to iron everything out and then present it to the board,” village President Diann Tesar said in an email to westofthei.com Tuesday. “Some detailed investigation and research needs to take place. Perhaps we will need two different interest groups to form two committees: Fireworks and chickens.”
