Aurora Officials: Planned Parenthood Didn’t Need Special Abortion Bldg Permit 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 27, 2007
Aurora, IL (LifeNews.com) — Aurora city officials have investigated the city code and found that Planned Parenthood didn’t need a special use permit in order to build its massive new abortion facility. While the revelation may stop one approach pro-life groups are using to stop the center from opening, other issues are still in play.
A pro-life attorney discovered that the abortion business may have failed to obtain a special use permit and hold a public hearing on how it would use the new facility.
Aurora-based lawyer Vincent Tessitore has talked with city officials about his analysis of city zoning codes. It would have required extensive public hearings and a city council vote and vote of neighboring businesses to proceed.
City officials into the matter and said it doesn’t appear that Planned Parenthood needed that special permit.
They said because the abortion business is located in a planned development district, the special permit rules don’t apply.
The abortion center is located on annexed land that has its own zoning laws through planned development district rules and those laws don’t require a special use permit for medical centers, Carie Anne Ergo, the city’s public information officer, told the Beacon News.
Tessitore told the newspaper that the annexation agreement doesn’t specifically exclude non-profit medical centers like Planned Parenthood.
Sara Knaub, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, told The Beacon News that the abortion business thinks the land is in the annexation zone that doesn’t require a special permit.
Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti is finishing his review of two investigations into the approval process and is expected to release his findings on Friday.
