The three Elmhurst aldermen on the city’s Development, Planning and Zoning Committee said this week they will postpone consideration of a request for conditional use to allow a 109-foot tall condominium project proposed for the city’s central core as they review a 34-page letter sent by the developer’s attorney to city attorneys.
The letter, from attorney Scott Day representing developer RSCK Holdings LLC emailed to city attorneys Thursday, Feb. 9, lays out in great detail what Day says are the developer’s justifications for conditional use approval for the project, including court precedents and a history of city plans calling for higher density and taller buildings in the city’s central business core. The letter clearly holds out the possibility of court action if the request for conditional use is denied.
“We need some time to digest that letter,” said committee chair Ald. Dannee Polomsky, who participated in the Monday (Feb. 13) meeting remotely by telephone.
The project proposed by developer 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, proposes 28 luxury condominiums on seven residential floors over two floors of above ground indoor parking. Developers had applied for a conditional use permit to build to 109 feet in an area where city rules allow building heights of 77 feet “by right.”
Day’s letter lays out in detail what Day calls “the uncontroverted facts of the City’s legislative history,” which Day claims supports projects like the RSCK project as being beneficial to the city’s development plans, including its 2016 Downtown Plan. That plan calls for higher density projects and taller buildings in the city’s central business district.
Day’s letter also cites a number of precedents of judicial review addressing substantive due process challenges to conditional use denials.
The cumulative effect, according to Day, “strongly supports the conclusion that denial of the conditional use would be unfavorably reviewed by an Illinois court.”
Day in his letter did suggest a possible compromise. Day said the 109-foot tall building “can be profitably developed without any tax increment financing funding to bridge the gap to a market return on investment that will generate $9.8 million in TIF incremental revenue to the City.”
Alternately, Day said, the project could be profitably developed at a lower height — 98 feet — with only modest TIF financial assistance and would still generate in excess of $8.3 million in TIF incremental revenue.
That height, according to Day, is only slightly taller than The Finn, a large rental apartment development already built on Addison Avenue west of the proposed new project.
Again, Day raised the notion of court action. “As a result,” Day said in his letter, “we believe a trial court would conclude that the project RSCK proposes is desirable and beneficial to serve and advance the public welfare as legislated by the City.”
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The project comes to the Development Committee from the city’s Zoning Commission, where commissioners voted four to three against recommending the additional height. Any decision by the Development Committee will eventually go to the full City Council for action.
Pending review by city attorneys, officials expect aldermen on the Development, Planning and Zoning Committee to consider the project at their next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Feb. 27.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.