In a development that reopens the whole controversy surrounding their deceptive arrival here, it has recently been disclosed that Planned Parenthood is planning an expansion at their Aurora site. They are seeking permission from the City of Aurora to boost their parking by a whopping 27 spaces, an increase of nearly 40%. I’ll go on and explain the entire situation—including the deception going on here—in a moment, but first let me deliver this urgent action item: Please call and e-mail the aldermen on the Planning and Development Committee and tell them not to approve Planned Parenthood’s parking expansion request. When you call, give three reasons for the committee to reject the parking scheme:
- The zoning ordinance requires 10-foot-wide parking spaces, but PP’s spaces are only 9 feet wide.
- The zoning ordinance requires a 35 foot setback for parking spaces, but PP only has 30.
- Planned Parenthood’s stated reason for the new spaces, “security,” is a total sham: we are peaceful and law-abiding.
Here’s the contact information for the P & D Committee:
- Alderman Mike Saville, Chair (6th Ward): 630-896-9895 | e-mail
- Abby Schuler (1st Ward): 630-710-0331 | e-mail
- Rick Mervine (8th Ward): 331-452-5136 | e-mail
Now, to fill in all the details . . . 
Pro-life investigaton begins
I was tipped off to this expansion plan back in August by a friendly council-watcher, and immediately began watching the city permitting process closely to try to figure out what was up. Why would Planned Parenthood be seeking additional parking? We’ve got people out there all the time, so we know they haven’t been overflowing their existing parking lot. What was really going on here? To dig up some answers, my assistant Matt and I began monitoring Aurora Planning Council and Aurora Planning Commission meetings and demanding relevant documents from the City through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Our first interesting discovery was the number of additional parking spaces Planned Parenthood was requesting: 27—exactly one more space than we’re alleging Planned Parenthood is short in Frachey v. Planned Parenthood, the zoning case moving forward in DuPage county court.
Why exactly 27 new parking spaces?
According to our reading of the Aurora Zoning Ordinance (AZO), Planned Parenthood built their abortuary with 26 fewer spaces than required—one of nine AZO violations cited in the suit. Now they’re asking for 27 spaces. Just coincidence? 
I think not—especially in light of the fact that on October 23, the court will hear arguments on a Motion to Dismiss filed by Planned Parenthood. If they lose that motion, they’ll have to answer for the serious flaws in their parking lot and all of their zoning violations in the suit. Of course, Planned Parenthood isn’t going to admit that they’re concerned about violating Aurora’s zoning laws. They’re citing a completely different—and totally outrageous—reason for the additional parking spaces.
Planned Parenthood cites “security” concerns
Through my FOIA requests, I uncovered a document in which Planned Parenthood gives their reasons for adding parking space: the “Explanation of Project Needs” submitted by Tim Dutton of McAdam Landscape Inc. 
Planned Parenthood’s stated reasons for the extra parking: “security.” Dutton claims, “Our staff and patients are being constantly harassed by the protesters.” (You can find the whole document in the response to our first FOIA request here [PDF].) The one and only example of such harrasment Dutton cites is an “assault” alleged to have taken place in October of last year outside Dominicks. But the authenticity of this allegation is extremely doubtful.
Fearmongering over doubtful assault allegation
Planned Parenthood claims that on October 1, 2008 an employee walking towards Dominick’s on her break was approached by a pro-life protestor who made derogatory comments about her work and “grabbed” her arm. But here’s what’s fishy. There’s no mention of any such incident in the police blotters printed in the Aurora Beacon that month. Even more strangely, the first we ever heard of this alleged incident was in press release [PDF] from the Aurora Police Department on January 5, 2009—a full three months later. 
Both the Aurora Beacon and the Chicago Tribune carried stories about the search for suspects in the case. I found it strange the police would go so far as to issue a police bulletin without ever picking up the phone and giving me a call about the situation. If they were so eager to find a suspect in this “assault” by a pro-life protestor, wouldn’t the logical first step of their investigation be to contact the leader of the protests? They didn’t bother. We’d had constant problems getting the police to take assaults against pro-lifers out there seriously, but here they were going to bat for Planned Parenthood by sending out an urgent alert for a three-month-old case. I knew back then this alleged assault was nothing but a setup—and now I finally knew what for. Planned Parenthood was looking for cover, and they turned to their most tried and true tactic: demonizing pro-lifers as violent and dangerous.
Planned Parenthood’s absurd smokescreen
But Dutton didn’t stop with this dubious assault at Dominicks. He went on to cite the “killing of the Doctor in Kansas and another double murder in southern Michigan”! Dutton’s reference to the killing of abortionist George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas was outrageous enough—he even said in an e-mail it was “only a matter of time before what happend in Kansas happens here”—but his reference to the Michigan murders was simply absurd. 
Dutton was obviously refering to the murders of Jim Pouillon—a pro-life activist—and Mike Fuoss in Owosso, Michigan on September 11. Their killer admitted he objected to Pouillon’s pro-life activities; why he killed Fuoss is as yet unclear. It’s breathtaking how far Planned Parenthood will go to obscure the truth—not only do they try to link the exemplary pro-life presence in Aurora with the deranged killed of George Tiller, but they go so far as to cite the murder of a pro-life activist as a reason for their urgent security need! These claims also defy plain logic. How exactly would the addition of parking spaces enhance security at Planned Parenthood? I’ve waded through pages and pages of discussion on the parking project without any hint of an answer to this question. That’s why I’m convinced this project has nothing to do with security. That it’s really all about the zoning case is further suggested by how frantic Planned Parenthood is to rush the project through.
Planned Parenthood demands special treatment
From the communication I have obtained between Planned Parenthood and the City of Aurora, it is clear that Planned Parenthood has become increasingly impatient to get going with construction. Are they staring down that October 23 hearing in state court? In e-mails to city staffers, Dutton repeatedly asks why things are taking so long, brings up the specter of violence and even insinuates that Planned Parenthood is being discriminated against because of the nature of their business. 
This is a strange accusation for Dutton to make, considering how the City rubber-stamped the Gemini/Planned Parenthood project from the first. Significantly, the City almost admits they have given Planned Parenthood special treatment in the past. Consider this statement in an e-mail to city staffers by Aurora Corporation Counsel Alayne Weingartz:
I have no problem assisting people as quickly as we can PROVIDED THAT we are correctly following every single procedure we have with no shortcuts, no assumptions and proper documentation on every single aspect. Every aspect of this will be scrutinized, as I am certain I don’t need to tell you all, so again, every procedure must be followed to the letter please. [Emphasis in original.]
(Find the whole exchange in our second batch of FOIA documents here [PDF].) So what goes on when there isn’t scrutiny of how the city approves development projects? How would things have been done differently in the first place if Planned Parenthood hadn’t come into town under the cloak of Gemini Office Development?
Planning Commission takes up Planned Parenthood request
For weeks I monitored the agendas of the Aurora Planning Commission, waiting for the Planned Parenthood matter to come up. The Planning Commission is an appointed board of Aurora citizens tasked with making recommendations to the Planning and Development Committee. They normally meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. 
But on September 30—the fifth Wednesday—Matt found a Planning Commission meeting posted on the City of Aurora website, with Planned Parenthood on the agenda. If we hadn’t been keeping such a close eye on things, we’d have missed it. Matt and I attended the meeting, along with attorney Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, which is handling the zoning case. Tim Dutton was there, too, to try to get Planned Parenthood their 27 spaces. The Planned Parenthood item began with a presentation by Zoning Administrator Ed Sieben. He outlined the developments so far, including mentioning that “the only contact with the public on this” was “two Freedom of Information Act Requests”—an interesting remark given that members of the public were barred from speaking on this agenda item.
Dutton pitches Planned Parenthood’s lies
After Sieben’s introduction, Dutton got up to speak. He repeated all of the falsehoods about Planned Parenthood needing more parking and we pro-lifers being prone to violence. Matt took a video of his remarks:
The Commission then began to ask questions about the project of both Sieben and Dutton. Peter Breen stood up and attempted to address the question of why Planned Parenthood really wants the precise number of 27 spaces, but he was not allowed to speak. They wouldn’t let me speak either, when I tried to ask an important question of Dutton. He had once again raised the issue of abortionist George Tiller’s murder in Kansas as a reason for adding parking spaces. I asked, “Does the doctor park at Blockbuster?” The Chairman told me I’d have to leave if I spoke out again. (You can read the whole transcript in our third batch of FOIA documents here [PDF].) Sieben told the commission that the City Staff recommend Planned Parenthood only be allowed 11 of the 27 spaces they wanted. The other 16 spaces would require building into a city easement, and would bring Planned Parenthood that much closer to the residences that back onto their property. It’s curious that the City of Aurora has suddenly become concerned about the impact of Planned Parenthood on the community—and even more curious that no public comment was invited on this issue. The Commission voted 9-1 to approve the staff recommendation that Planned Parenthood be allowed to add 11 more parking spaces. Now the matter goes to the Planning and Development Committee at their October 15 meeting. While we were glad to see 16 of Planned Parenthood’s parking spaces denied them—dropping their total to 81, well below the 96 our zoning case says they should have—we resolved to continue fighting Planned Parenthood’s expansion.
So what’s the big deal about 11 parking spaces?
So why are these 11 parking spaces such a big deal? Is the configuration of the parking lot at Planned Parenthood really all that significant when you consider that they’re killing dozens of unborn babies every week? 
The first problem with the parking expansion at Planned Parenthood—regardless of the number of spaces—is the reason Planned Parenthood is giving: that their clients and staff are unsafe because of the pro-life presence there. The City of Aurora has accepted this explanation at face value. At no point has any city staff member, appointee or elected official ever questioned Planned Parenthood’s allegations. We have got to set the record straight: Our pro-life prayer, protest and counseling effort at Planned Parenthood over the past two years has been peaceful and law-abiding. We have never harassed or threatened anyone out there. Secondly, Planned Parenthood’s request for more parking provides an opportunity to reexamine the botched process by which Planned Parenthood came to town. The problems with Planned Parenthood’s parking lot—spots too few, spots too narrow, setback too short—point to a big picture of fraud and error. Planned Parenthood made significant mistakes putting together their development plan—on top of the fraud and deception underlying the entire project. Let’s expose those mistakes to the public and the City Council. Finally, any expansion at Planned Parenthood should be opposed. They cannot be allowed to pretend they’re just another business, adding a few parking spaces, moving a few trees. Planned Parenthood shouldn’t be operating this abortuary in our community in the first place, in violation of our zoning laws and the will of the citizens of Aurora.
You can help stop Planned Parenthood’s expansion
On October 15, the Planning and Development Committee will vote on Planned Parenthood’s request for additional parking. 
Please call and e-mail the aldermen on the Planning and Development Committee and tell them not to approve Planned Parenthood’s parking expansion request. When you call, give three reasons for the committee to reject the parking scheme:
- The zoning ordinance requires 10-foot-wide parking spaces, but PP’s spaces are only 9 feet wide.
- The zoning ordinance requires a 35 foot setback for parking spaces, but PP only has 30.
- Planned Parenthood’s stated reason for the new spaces, “security,” is a total sham: we are peaceful and law-abiding.
Here’s the contact information for the P & D Committee:
- Alderman Mike Saville, Chair (6th Ward): 630-896-9895 | e-mail
- Abby Schuler (1st Ward): 630-710-0331 | e-mail
- Rick Mervine (8th Ward): 331-452-5136 | e-mail
I also encourage you to join me at the P & D Committee Meeting at 4 p.m. on October 15 in the 5th floor conference room at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place in Aurora (map). Stay tuned for developments on this controversy. Our next step will depend on what the P & D Committee decides. And mark your calendar for the hearing later this month on the Motion to Dismiss in our zoning case in state court. That’s October 23 at 1:30 p.m. at the DuPage County Judicial Center, 505 County Farm Road in Wheaton (map), Courtroom 1003.
