Church officials to modify plan, appear again before Zoning Commission
By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
In last week’s edition, the Elmhurst Independent ran a story about the Nov. 29th meeting of the neighbors who live around Redeemer Lutheran and their concerns about the church’s upcoming plans to reconstruct and reconfigure the area on St. Charles Road, just east of York St.
Later, the Independent spoke with Council President David Hanni of Redeemer Lutheran Church, who responded to the comments from the group.
While the neighbors say the project requires seven variances, the church insists it is only asking for three: 1) to allow parking spaces within the front yard from 50 feet to 8.3 feet (Kenilworth) and corner side yard from 30 feet to 9.4 feet (St. Charles); 2) a variation from the collective parking provision from 82 to 53 spaces; and, 3) a variation for the rear building setback requirement from 50 feet to 27 feet.
Hanni flat out refused to discuss any of the neighbors’ concerns about costs of the project, pointing out that it was, quite frankly, nobody’s business.
At the top of a meeting of the Planning & Zoning Committee on Monday, Dec. 11, Assistant City Manager Mike Kopp announced that the church had decided to withdraw the proposal and start the process over. They plan to make some modifications and then go back before the Zoning and Planning Commission for a second time. The last time the project came before the ZPC, it was turned down by a vote of 5-2, with two commissioners absent.
The proposed modifications include 1) reducing the depth of the three property lots from 165 feet to 155 feet; 2) provide landscaping around the new lot to make it more appealing to the neighbors; and 3) address whether or not the Redeemer parking lot is adequate. They are considering what are called “land banks,” reserving 16 parking spaces, which would bring them back up to the original number of spots.
Some of the neighbors who had attended the meeting on Nov. 29 appeared at the P&Z Committee meeting. Neighbor Doug Manning who lives on Kenilworth said he appreciates the church’s offer to compromise, but says he had never been contacted about the plans in the first place. William Clay, another Kenilworth resident, said he was taken aback by the lack of process on the church’s first go-around with the ZPC.
“Now, at the 11th hour, they come up with these changes,” Clay said. “It should have been properly presented to the Zoning & Planning Commission in the first place. They should proceed with caution and remain conscientious of due process.”
Local realtor and Kenilworth resident Mickey Muisenga seemed to like the fact that the proposal would be brought back to the Commission, and reminded church officials that one option is to ‘do nothing.’
“If they sell the three lots, they could raise about $1.8 million and they’ve already raised $600,000, so that should give the church enough to put in their elevator, the handicapped bathrooms, and the neighbors get status quo,” he said. “That could be a win-win for everyone.”
A brief discussion ensued about the frequency of re-submitting a proposal to the ZPC. It has happened before, but reversing a decision is very rare. P&Z Committee Chair Alderman Michael Honquest (6th Ward) said that since 2004, there had been 322 decisions made by the Commission. Of those, 12 had been overturned and only four of those were in residential districts.
Committee member Noel Talluto (4th Ward) noted that there are no transcripts of Zoning Commission meetings.
“If they say ‘safety,’ we don’t always know in what context it was used,” she said. “The Commission is meant to determine law as it stands. They are not elected as we are, they don’t interpret law.
“If the lot sizes are changing and there are talks about land banking, then those things could change what the Commission thinks [about the project] and how it votes next time around.”
