THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2006
Hold Off On Condo Plan---Again
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
The Heinz condominium project in Park Ridge is a classic example of how the devil is in the details.
John Heinz, a resident of Park Ridge in addition to being a prominent area builder, proposes to construct a two-building, 58-unit luxury condo project at the southeast corner of Greenwood Road and Northwest Highway.
After more than a year of debate on the height of his buildings and the density of his units, along with other issues, he finally won "preliminary" approval of his project earlier this fall, despite objections from some residents of the area.
During the process, city officials repeatedly expressed praise for the state-of-the-art landscaping, architecture, and physical appearance of his buildings and site plan. But when it came to details of density, building height, parking, and traffic, Heinz repeatedly had to run through an obstacle course.
He reduced his building height, at the city's request, and the size of his buildings, but asked for variations from parking ands density requirements. Eventually, he got them.
Monday night (Oct. 23) he came back for final approval of his planned unit development, a process required by the city's zoning code.
And, just like numerous other occasions, he quickly ran into controversy. The Planning and Zoning Commission tabled his final plans until Nov. 13.
Their problem? There were two of them. Commissioners said his final plans showed a public plaza area at the corner of Northwest Highway and Greenwood that was "sterile" and "inadequate." And some of them said his plans for an easement on land near his office at 444 N. Northwest Highway, next to his condo site, didn't include any provisions for parking.
"I would like to either reject this or continue it, because there are things here that are not the way we were told earlier," said Commissioner Cynthia Funkhouser.
Heinz himself tried to explain that his easement plan always included provisions for access to both the condo units and the office building, not parking, and he said he thought the plaza plan conformed to earlier understandings with city officials.
This project has turned around so many times, that it even had Judy Barclay, a resident who opposed the project's density and building height, in Heinz' corner on the easement issue.
"He made a nice gesture to the city for an easement that now is coming back to bite him," she said. She said she attended all the hearings about the project, but she can't recall what was said, or agreed to, regarding parking.
The commission asked staff to research the transcripts of earlier public hearings on the project to try and clarify the matter.