THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2006
Plaza Proposal Has Its Critics
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
It's becoming a repetitive, familiar refrain in Park Ridge.
City develops a "master plan" for a critical area in need of an upgrade, developers come in with seemingly attractive plans that do not conform to the city's zoning code, a lot of residents object, and months, if not years, of controversy ensue.
Eventually, something that at least some residents don't like is approved. But voila! it usually turns out okay.
It happened in the Uptown redevelopment (the jury is still out because construction is unfinished), the Heinz condo proposal at Greenwood and Northwest Highway (hasn't received final approval yet), and it's even happened over and over again with the scores of residential teardowns and home replacements throughout the city.
Now, it's happening at the Executive Plaza site at Touhy Avenue and Washington Street a block east of Uptown.
In September, city officials approved a master plan that was vaguely worded but said the city was interested in multi-family residential or senior housing projects to replace seven aging office buildings, two of which are vacant. The plan discouraged major commercial or vehicle-related uses, including facilities like a Walgreen's or a bank that included drive-through lanes.
It took only a few weeks for the first solid proposal to come in.
Monday night (Oct. 23), Norwood Builders and Chodo Real Estate told the city's Planning and Zoning Commission that they would like to create a mixed-use development that includes a bank with a drive-through area, renovation of an existing office building to house existing medical firms located in the plaza, and a 192-unit, four-building condo complex that proposes to be within the city's 60-foot "exception" for building height, but would contain nearly 50% more density than currently allowed in the R-4 Executive Plaza zoning district. In R-4 multi-family areas, the code's standard is a maximum of 20 living units per acre. Norwood is proposing 29 per acre.
After a 45-minute presentation by Norwood and its consulting experts, more than half-a-dozen residents spoke, all of them criticizing the plan in one way or another.
The commission terminated the public hearing after about 90 minutes, and continued it until Nov. 13.
There may be other proposals submitted for this 18-acre site. Herbert Zuegel, a strong proponent of senior housing in the community (there currently is none), continued his campaign Monday. "We have about 5,500 persons in Park Ridge age 70 or over, and senior housing is needed here," he said. "We have two developers who are interested and speaking to the staff about possibly making proposals for continuing care senior housing and service facilities."
After the hearing, Zuegel told the Journal that the senior housing developers "are probably waiting to see what happens to this Norwood proposal.
"Norwood is a good builder, but condos and a bank aren't what we really need in the community now," Zuegel said.
Most critical residents said the Norwood-Chodo project would generate too much traffic (especially on Berry Parkway), is too dense, and the bank is inappropriate for the area. Norwood officials said the bank would be located on the east side of their development, on Touhy Avenue near Berry. The city's master plan calls for commercial facilities to be located on the east side of the site, along Washington Street.
The bank got the most flak. A couple of residents pointed out that the city recently rejected a proposal for a drive-through bank at Touhy and Washington, and they wondered why another one is brought forth now. "Who would want to live next to a 24-hour facility that is likely to send traffic down our street," said one resident. "There is no public benefit to that."
One resident said, "If that bank is robbed, there will be chases and traffic in our neighborhood north of Touhy, endangering my family and our neighborhood," he said.
A couple of Berry residents said they appreciate a recent presentation to them by Norwood, but they still had some issues with the proposal. "Be tough with your zoning ordinance, and make this conform to it," another resident said, referring to the density issue.
Some residents complained that banks were specifically prohibited in an earlier version of the master plan for the plaza. But a city staffer said that may have been in an original draft that has since been changed. The current plan "restricts," or "discourages" large, stand-alone commercial and auto-related, drive-through facilities, but doesn't prohibit them. The plan does not specifically mention banks.