The purpose of the OS Zone is to protect and preserve open space for the preservation of natural resources, for the preservation and managed production of resources for outdoor recreation and education, and for public health and safety. It is also the intent of this zone to provide open space in the City by limiting development in areas which are so located, so configured, or possessed of physical features that they may provide valuable and functional open space for the purposes of helping to shape urban form, to provide local or buffer greenbelts, and/or to serve as linkages between open space areas. It is intended that any building or structure permitted in this zone shall be subordinate to and in furtherance of use of the land for open space as defined in the City of Villa Park General Plan and the State Planning and Zoning Law.

Any of the following principal uses are permitted with the exception of those specific uses that are listed as prohibited uses in subsection 23-10.4.

a.

Parks, playgrounds, and outdoor recreation facilities, noncommercial.

b.

Riding and hiking trails, noncommercial.

c.

Local and buffer greenbelts.

d.

Water recharge, percolation, and watershed areas.

e.

Wildlife preserves and sanctuaries.

f.

Public utility easements for overhead or underground transmission lines.

g.

Archaeological sites.

h.

Screening walls, fences, identification signs and vegetation, public improvements.

i.

Historical preserves.

j.

Parking facilities, public.

Nothing in this subsection shall be so construed as to permit any of the uses prohibited in subsection 23-10.4.

In addition to the requirements of Article 23-19, a conditional use permit may be approved for any of the following uses only when the City Council finds that the proposed use is consistent with the purpose and intent of the Open Space Zone and the Open Space and Conservation Elements of the General Plan:

a.

The reclamation for open space purposes of mines, quarries and pits resulting from the commercial extraction of rock, sand, gravel, earth, clay and similar materials.

b.

Structures incidental and accessory to permitted uses such as gazebos, information centers, restrooms, concession stands, maintenance buildings, greenhouses, stables and clubhouses.

c.

Schools, public.

d.

Electric distribution substations.

e.

Microwave repeater stations.

f.

Public utility booster stations.

g.

Sanitary landfills.

The following uses shall not be permitted because of their tendency to create conditions, situations or precedents that may be inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the OS Zone.

a.

Outdoor advertising structures and signs not permitted by Article 23-16.

b.

All uses not permitted by Subsections 23-10.2 and 23-10.3.

a.

General Requirements. The following requirements are minimum unless otherwise stated.