A hearing for Loyola Academy’s request for permission to build two new parking lots has been postponed for a second time, until June 15.
The hearing before Wilmette’s Zoning Board of Appeals was originally set for April 6, but was postponed to May 18 after project opponents claimed the school had broken a village-mandated enrollment cap. Village staff requested the delay to June to make sure other zoning cases could be heard on May 18, according to Community Development Director John Adler.
Village and school officials would not discuss Wilmette’s investigation into that alleged violation, other than to confirm that the village wants answers from Loyola administrators, and that Loyola has not yet provided them.
Adler also would not discuss what punishments or actions the Jesuit high school could face if it broke the cap.
“Until we receive their answers and can talk about them internally, I can’t talk about that question,” Adler said May 5.
Adler said the village didn’t specify what information it wanted from Loyola, beyond “an explanation of some sort.”
“It could be ‘yes, we’re in violation, and here is what we are proposing as a solution,’ or ‘no, we don’t believe we’re in violation, and here’s why we believe that,'” he said.
Robin Hunt, Loyola’s director of public relations, declined to comment on the enrollment investigation but said in a May 6 email that discussions between the school and the village are in progress.
“Out of respect for this process with the Village, we refrain from making further comments at this time—except to say that we are grateful to the Village and to our neighbors for their collaboration thus far,” she said.
Loyola, located at 1100 Laramie Ave. in west Wilmette, wants to build two staff and vendor parking lots on small fields it owns west of Laramie and north of the school.
Many of Loyola’s residential neighbors oppose the project, claiming the lots will bring more traffic congestion, lower property values, and potentially cause more flooding by increasing impermeable surfaces.
Meanwhile, a representative of Loyola neighbors who oppose the parking lot projects, North Shore Citizens to Preserve Green Space Inc., said some members met April 25 with Loyola attorney Chris Canning, and hope to hear back from the school before June 15.
“The meeting was initiated by North Shore Citizens because we felt it was the right thing to do, to reach out to our neighbor,” Ariel Weissberg said, adding that the group “is hopeful that Loyola has a better understanding of our constituents’ concerns and positions, and that they can take that information to benefit the greater whole.”
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Canning said he “thought it was a really nice meeting, and a nice opportunity to get everybody’s viewpoint. I appreciated the opportunity.”
North Shore Citizens contacted Wilmette in late March, saying its research showed Loyola had regularly broken a 2,000-student limit imposed by the village in 1993. Weissberg asked the village to investigate and to revoke the 1993 special use permit, a strategy neighbors hoped would also halt the parking lot project.
However, Adler said the village’s legal counsel believes the Wilmette zoning board can hear the parking lot case, even as the village investigates the enrollment violation.
He said he did not recall any recent zoning case in which the village revoked a property’s special use permit because of permit violations.
He also said his department asked for the latest case delay to make sure village staff could use the May 18 date for other zoning cases, a chance that would be lost if Loyola’s representatives came before the board only to ask for a continuance, as they did in April.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy