A large majority of aldermen on the Elmhurst City Council Monday (March 6) agreed with a council committee report that a 109-foot tall condo proposed for a small site on North York Street wasn’t a good fit for the site in downtown Elmhurst.
As shown on Elmhurst TV Monday night, 11 of the 12 aldermen present voted to accept a recommendation from the three members of the council’s Development, Planning and Zoning Committee to deny the request for a conditional use to allow building height above the 77 feet allowed by right in the city’s central core.
The project from developer RSCK Holdings LLC of Oak Brook is for a nine-story 109-foot tall building almost completely filling the site at 196-202 N. York St., across the street from City Hall. The project, “The Residences at 200 North York,” proposed 28 luxury condominiums on seven residential floors over two floors of above ground indoor parking with some first-floor retail space.
As council members considered the Development Committee report Monday, committee chair Ald. Dannee Polomsky recapped her committee’s discussions last Monday (Feb. 27). She said the conditional use request was needed for height above 77 feet, or six stories.
Polomsky’s committee conclusion was in line with the report from the city’s Zoning and Planning Commission, where four of seven members voted against the conditional use for additional height.
” (Additional) height is sometimes, but not always, appropriate,” Polomsky said. She noted that taller buildings have been approved in the downtown area, but generally on larger sites with setbacks and tiering to reduce apparent massing at street level.
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“Again,” Polomsky said, “sometimes but not always.”
Ald. Mike Brennan of the Seventh Ward cast the only vote against the report and in favor of allowing the additional height.
“This project will be an incredible update to what’s now at 200 N. York,” Brennan said, “and could generate (tax) revenue for the city.”
He acknowledged some drawbacks to the proposed project, but concluded, ” … but the benefits outweigh the downside. I’m not in support of this report.”
With no further discussion, 11 council members voted to accept the report recommending denial of the conditional use request. Brennan cast the only vote against accepting the report.
Ald. Brian Cahill and Michael Honquest were absent.
The developer’s attorney, Scott Day, previously sent a 34-page letter to city attorneys justifying the request for additional height, saying the project fit the city’s Comprehensive Plan for downtown development. In his letter, Day cited a number of court cases where denials of conditional use requests had been overturned by litigation.
Reached after Monday’s meeting, Day said he had no additional comment beyond the letter, which is on the city’s BoardDocs site.
“Our position remains unchanged,” Day said in a brief phone conversation with Pioneer Press Tuesday.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.