THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2006
Final Approval For Heinz, But Not Everyone Happy
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
Park Ridge developer John Heinz won approval of his proposed condo project Monday night (July 17), but the community-wide debate about the city's zoning code will rage on into the future.
Aldermen voted 8-2 Monday to grant final approval to Heinz's request for a zoning variation to increase the number of units in his condo project from 50 to 58.
Voting no were Ald. Jeannie Markech and Frank Wsol. Markech objected because the variation was to "too far outside the city's zoning code" regarding condo unit density. Wsol said the variation wasn't about what was good for Park Ridge, it was an economic bailout for the Heinz family.
Ald. Jeff Cox attended the meeting by telephone and wasn't able to vote, although he repeated his opposition to the project. Ald. Donald Crampton, James Radermacher, and Rich DiPietro were absent on Monday. Crampton and DiPietro voted in favor of the project at the June 19 city council meeting.
Heinz proposes to erect 58 luxury condo units in two buildings at the southeast corner of Greenwood Avenue and Northwest Highway. He says they will sell from about $350,000 to $2 million or more, depending on their size and amenities.
This ends a year-long discussion about the Heinz project, but the debate about the city's zoning code is just starting to heat up.
The 58 Heinz units are 12 more than the city's zoning code normally requires in the multi-family zoning district in which the Heinz project is located. It is two less than Heinz originally requested when he first came to the city, and eight more than he got from the city council about eight months ago. He returned to the council this summer to request the additional eight units because he said he had been advised by a real estate consultant and his bank, after the city's vote to approve 50, that 50 units were not financially profitable for him and he needed eight more.
A minority of aldermen considered his last request an economic bailout for a developer, and the city helping Heinz recover from his own mistakes. A majority of aldermen regarded it as a good faith request for a project that they believe will be an asset to the community.
Some residents of the area object to the project because they say it is too dense, too high, and will aggravate traffic, flooding ,and water pressure problems in the area.
"This isn't about making Park Ridge better, this is about bailing out Heinz, and I object to that," Wsol said.
"This has been a piecemeal, two-step process," Markech said. "When did it become okay to come up with a plan that is so far outside of our zoning laws? We have another developer in town who has conformed to our zoning laws, and he is doing just fine." She suggested that the matter be delayed until the zoning rewrite committee finishes its job later this year or early next.
"This is a good faith request by a developer, and I support it," countered Ald. Mark Anderson.
The dialog clearly illustrates that aldermen are still divided over how the city should relate to home builders, condo developers, and commercial owners; and what the city's zoning standards regarding density, building height, and building setbacks, lot sizes, etc. should be based on.
Presumably the zoning rewrite, which is being done by an ad hoc 20-member committee of residents, city development experts, and builders, along with a consulting firm, will answer these questions. A draft of a new code has been promised by Camiros, the consultant, by September. Ald. Kirke Machon, who served nearly 15 years on the city's Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning and Zoning Commission, has urged the committee to complete its job and present its final recommendations to the city council by the end of the year.
That submittal, however, may spark a debate among aldermen that could go on for weeks or months after that.