THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008
Hot Topics On Monday Agenda
By CRAIG ADAMS
Journal Reporter
Park Ridge residents may have to choose their battles when two meetings occur the evening of Monday, Apr. 28; do they want to be heard on PADS or on R-5 zoning?
The Park Ridge Ministerial Association plans a PADS Community Information Night at St. Mary's Episcopal Church at 6:30 p.m. that evening. Only 60 minutes later, a public hearing regarding text amendments to the zoning ordinance including a proposed change for R-5 zoning starts at the Park Ridge Planning & Zoning Commission.
Rev. Amity Carrubba of St. Mary's explained, "When the Ministerial Association was first organizing that, we looked at the online, Park Ridge city calendar and thought 'It's just a zoning meeting,'" she said. "We were not aware until this last Saturday about the conflict." Carrubba continued, "We had to evaluate whether or not we could reschedule ours. It would be like three weeks later and we didn't feel that was fair to the community."
Judy Barclay, of Citizens United to Retain Residential Balance, said she asked for a change when she realized the conflict. "I was flatly turned down," she said. She disagrees with Carrubba's opinion of the three-week wait. "'What's wrong with that?' I asked (Carrubba) that at the time," Barclay said. "She said, 'They (the Ministerial Association) don't want to.'" Barclay added the R-5 change affects areas around many of the association churches. "It was a little disheartening to say the least," she said.
The Planning and Zoning Commission plans to consider several changes including the R-5 change. They include altering review processes, modifying the types of projects requiring site plan reviews, changes to rules regarding attached garages and off-street parking requirements, and provisions for signs on public property and automatic teller machines. According to Barclay, only the R-5 change is of critical importance. "The others really truly are just housekeeping issues. We found no problems with them in December," she said, when they first came before the commission. "It was really the R-5 issue. It was not, in our opinion, a typo."
Currently, the city's ordinance allows R-5 zoning in or adjacent to the B-4 uptown business district. Staff has recommended changing the wording to allow it in or adjacent to the central business district.
R-5 zoning allows 29 dwelling units per acre of land. The city last November granted a variance in the zoning at Executive Office Plaza allowing a development with 30 units per acre.
According to Barclay, changing the ordinance would add several more parcels of land to the central area, taking it west to Cumberland and to Hinkley Park on the north and west. In addition, the words "adjacent to" in the ordinance would allow R-5 zoning in what are now residential areas anywhere around that district, she said.
"This R-5 issue is not going to go away if it goes through," Barclay said. "This impacts us all forever. The ministry just didn't seem to take that into consideration."
Back at the church, Carrubba hopes to give residents a chance to ask questions of leadership in the PADS program as well as current volunteers in an "information fair-type setting."