Elmhurst Zoning Commission members agreed this week (Tuesday, Nov. 29) to continue a hearing on a proposal from developer RSCK for a nine-story condominium building on a site on North York Street across from City Hall to Dec. 13, hoping to conclude testimony then.
Commissioners hope then to begin their deliberations on the case at their first meeting of 2023 on Jan. 10.
The proposed project from RSCK Holdings LLC of Oak Brook is for a 109-foot tall building almost completely filling the site at 196-202 N. York St. The project, The Residences at 200 North York, calls for 28 luxury condominiums on seven residential floors over two floors of above ground indoor parking. The site now holds an outdated two-story commercial building and a small bungalow, both vacant.
Zoning commissioners will eventually decide whether the project, presented under the city’s planned unit development process, meets city standards for land use. The case, known as Case No. 22 P 10, includes applications for two conditional use permits. The first is a request for approval of a planned unit development, required under city rules for any development project in the city’s central business core (CBC).
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The second request for conditional use is to allow the building to be built 109-feet tall, while city regulations only allow a maximum height of 77 feet “by right” in the CBC.
That 109-foot height and concerns over traffic congestion both in the alley on the west side of the site and on York Street in front of the proposed building have drawn objections from many, as reflected in the voluminous postings by concerned parties on the city’s BoardDocs site.
Many of those objections have come from resident owners of condominiums in the Elmhurst One95 building, 195 N. Addison Ave., which sits across the alley to the west of the new proposed building. Deanne Mazzochi, a state legislator, attorney and one of the developers of the One95 building, is acting “on behalf” of some of those owners on what she called this week a “pro bono” basis.
That resulted in an unusual format in this week’s Zoning Commission meeting as Mazzochi was granted permission to “cross examine” attorney Scott Day, representing the developer, and members of the development team on details of the project.
Mazzochi’s questions, vetted first by Commission Chair Susan Rose and attorney Andrew Acker, focused on three areas.
The first concerned shadow studies that showed how shadows cast by the 200 North building would block light from reaching the One95 building at various times of the day and seasons of the year. In her questioning, Mazzochi tried to nail down how much additional shadowing of her building would result from the difference in height between the 77 feet allowed and the 109 feet requested.
After several versions of the questions and several responses from both Day and an architect with the project, Day closed out that part of the discussion. “We’re not going to build a 77-foot tall building (with one floor of parking),” Day said.
Mazzochi then moved to questions about traffic in the alley, and especially whether the 200 North project intended to provide a loading dock or other provisions for deliveries or even setbacks on the two garage doors proposed for the project.
Questions in that area ranged over garbage trucks, moving vans, Amazon trucks, even DoorDash food deliveries, and how those would work with the new building. Day’s responses included that there is no city requirement for condos to have loading docks and the building will have what he termed a “call box” on the alley side for delivery people to reach people in the building. In response to a question from Rose, Day said large items like sofas could be delivered through the garage of the proposed building.
The last major area of discussion was about traffic congestion in the alley on the west (back) side of the proposed development. Mazzochi questioned the timing of the developer’s traffic studies, saying that peak traffic in the alley comes at times other than morning and late afternoon rush periods. That traffic can peak during the day with those moving vans, garbage and delivery trucks and residents of both the One95 building and The Fynn, a large apartment building south of the 0ne95 building, entering and leaving the alley.
Those issues and more — including how construction traffic and materials storage on York — will be part of deliberations by Zoning and Planning Commission members in January. But before that the Dec. 13 meeting will provide for any last public comments or submittals and a final rebuttal from Day.
On Nov. 14, Day sent Rose a 22-page rebuttal advocacy letter on the project. Mazzochi told Rose she would like to submit a written response to that and Rose told her she would need to do so by Dec. 8, so that commissioners would have time to review it before the Dec. 13 meeting.
Before that meeting, new or additional documents and comments can be emailed to City Planner Eileen Franz at [email protected].
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.