By Jim Sterne
News Editor
McDonald's corporation has had its eye on a location at 1521 W. North Ave. for what is rumored to be the largest McDonald's in the Midwest. McDonald's corporation had no comment about the property, citing that all information is a matter of public record and the case is still pending.
Residents of the area are concerned that the new store with a proposed drive-thru facility would cause further traffic jams in an already grid locked area. The plans also call for off-site parking across Boswell Ave. on the south side of North Ave. The proposed restaurant is near the entrance and exit ramps to the Kennedy Expressway.
In Feb. of 2002 the city's zoning board ruled against McDonald's who then appealed the decision. Since then, an election put a new alderman, Manuel Flores, in the 1st Ward. Judge Nancy Arnold heard their plea on May 6 and ruled in favor of McDonald's, allowing them to build.
Flores appealed that decision and was informed on June 4 that "the City's Corporation Counsel said that the appeal could not be processed because the Zoning Board of Appeals could not file an appeal as a sole entity, but needed a Third Party Objector for the suit."
The Corporation Counsel filed a Motion to Reconsider, as well as a Petition to Intervene on behalf of Ald. Flores. The Alderman, along with quite a number of community residents in the vicinity of the proposed McDonald's, object to putting a drive-thru there due to traffic congestion and pollution. "No one objects to having McDonald's, just to having a drive-thru," wrote Teri Richardson, director of communications for Ald. Flores, to Inside
Joseph Spillane, Real Estate Corporation Council, said that the Circuit Court will consider the two issues on Monday, June 23, at 9:30 a.m. at the Daley Center: the appeal to reverse the pro-McDonald's Arnold decision, and Ald. Flores' petition to intervene due to the fact that he is the new alderman of the ward. Both issues were filed by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
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