By Ed Lowe
Senior writer
In an effort to keep the parts of east Lakeview from changing with the times, the Southeast Lakeview Neighbors Association (SELVN) has proposed submitting some 500 properties for Landmark Designation under the city ordinance which would prohibit any unauthorized facade changes of the properties. Also restricted would be any redevelopment of the properties including demolition or major modernization which would require exterior changes.
The proposed landmark area is bounded by Halsted St. on the west, Lake Michigan on the east (with the exception of some high rise development east of Sheridan Rd.), Diversey Ave. on the south and Belmont Ave. on the north. This area, known generally as East Lakeview, contains hundreds of buildings which SELVN wants to have designated a landmark district. When the city surveyed some 17,000 buildings over a lengthy period in the 1980s, it classified, by color coding, those in need of landmark status. The ones most needing protection under the ordinance were designated “orange.” There are an estimated 30 “orange” buildings in this area.
Bob Clark, president of the 100-member organization, indicated that the SELVN criterion for landmark designation would be any building constructed before 1940. Of some 630 identified buildings in the area, they feel that about 500 meet the qualifications required to warrant landmark status. Also, a few additional buildings located east of Sheridan Rd. would be included in the proposal.
According to Clark, these 630 buildings have been included in the organization’s survey of the area. West of Sheridan Rd., the number shrinks to some 600 buildings, of which some 498, or 83 percent, are “qualifying buildings” under the organization’s current plans.
The process of applying for landmark status is a complex one which must go through the Landmark Commission and the city’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD). According to DPD spokesman Pete Scales, the proposal has not been officially brought to the Landmark Commission, though there have been some preliminary discussions between SELVN and DPD staff members. During those discussions, SELVN was advised on the procedure for submitting a formal proposal for the landmarking. Thus, it appears that there has not been any major effort to acquire the designation for the area. As a result, there has been no notification of either commercial or residential property owners in the area, most of whom are totally oblivious of the efforts of SELVN.
INSIDE contacted the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. Its director, Maureen Martino, told Inside, “No one’s come to us or said anything. I’m hearing about it [the proposed landmarking] for the first time.” The same reaction came from Heather Way, director of the Lakeview Chamber, who said: “I haven’t heard anything about it.” It appears that Clark has not been working in concert with any of the major commercial property owners or organizations in the Lakeview community.
Clark, a retired professor and board member of Preservation Chicago, indicated that, in his view, the “historic character of the neighborhood is what’s at stake. SELVN wants every pre-1940 building protected.” Clark, who lives in a condominium apartment in one of the buildings that would be protected, felt that the other owners of the building in which his apartment is located would be in favor of landmark designation for their property.
Clark pointed to the Ukrainian Village community saying that it was his understanding that 80 percent of property owners in that area agreed to the landmark designation that has been applied to the near northwest side community.
He also admitted that almost all of the affected property owners in the Armitage-Halsted area are opposed to the designation. That area is currently the subject of a landmarking dispute between the city and the local property owners and has been met with broad opposition among the majority of the property owners in that area.
Many fewer buildings are involved in the Armitage-Halsted area than would be included in the SELVN plan and presently there is no indication of how many commercial properties would be affected under this proposal. Commercial property tends to be at the greatest risk under the Landmark Designation. City wide, commercial property owners fear the designation, saying it will reduce property values and drive maintenance costs up, is a loss of their property rights with no compensation and adds another layer of government regulations.
Landmark proponents within the city administration have also made it de facto policy not to notify commercial property owners that their properties are being considered for Landmark Designation until the process is well underway. In Lincoln Park, for instance, the Armitage Halsted District was nine months into planning before commercial property owners were notified that such an act was being considered. |
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