By John Walker
Special to Inside
More than 80 Roscoe Village residents attended a special community meeting on zoning March 18 to discuss a developer's proposal to purchase and redevelop the manufacturing plant located at 1825 W. Newport Ave.
Brian Daley, president of Roscoe Village Neighbors (RVN), served as moderator of the meeting. He introduced Tom Bader, the acting chairman of the RVN Zoning & Land Use Committee, who provided an overview of the process by which the proposed project was reviewed by RVN.
The developer, James Stellas of Stellas Development, LLC, and the project's architect, Mike Wilkinson of Wilkinson Blender Architecture, presented a proposal to renovate the building into a 10-unit, all-residential structure with 18 enclosed and deeded parking spaces. The proposal, which included the addition of a partial third story, would have required that the parcel be rezoned to R-5 (residential) from its current M-1-2 (manufacturing).
Following the presentation, residents asked questions and offered their comments and reactions for more than an hour. Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) answered many of the questions raised by residents; in his hands rest all rezoning matters in the 32nd Ward. He provided information about the process by which zoning and land use matters are handled by City government.
At the end of the community discussion, RVN requested a show of hands of those individuals in support of rezoning the property to R-5, as well as those opposed to the rezoning. Opponents outnumbered supporters by an overwhelming majority. Also, a petition was presented with more than 150 signatures of individuals opposed to rezoning the property to anything denser than R-3 (single-family residential). RVN also received 24 emails regarding to the proposed rezoning. Of those, 19 were opposed, 3 were supportive, and 2 were inconclusive.
During a 20-minute break, the RVN Zoning & Land Use Committee conferred to prepare its recommendation to the RVN Board.
The Committee's mandate from the Board in such matters is to base its recommendations upon RVN's Statement of Principles and Policies Regarding Land Use, Development, and Zoning as ratified by the community more than four years ago and available on the RVN web site at roscoevillage.org. Ultimately, the Committee and the RVN Board base their decisions upon serving the greater good of the larger community, while also considering all effects that would be borne by residents and businesses within the immediate vicinity of any proposed project.
Taking these considerations into account, the RVN Zoning & Land Use Committee voted to recommend to the RVN Board of Directors that the proposed rezoning to R-5 be opposed. The RVN Board subsequently voted to accept the Zoning Committee's recommendation. Accordingly, the RVN Board has sent a letter to Ald. Matlak articulating its opposition to any request to rezone the parcel to R-5.
Through its monthly Board Meetings, its newsletter titled What's News in Roscoe Village, its weekly e-mail announcements to nearly 2,000 Villagers, and periodic community meetings, RVN endeavors to enhance and expand the flow of communications within the Village. |
