City of Wheaton Planning and Zoning Board met Feb. 11.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL VOTE
Chair Weller called the February 11, 2020 Wheaton Planning and Zoning Board meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Wheaton City Hall, 303 W. Wesley Street. Upon roll call, the following were:
Roll Call Vote
Present: Nicole Aranas
Christopher Dabovich
Bob Gudmundson
Cecilia Horejs
Mark Plunkett
Dan Wanzung
Scott Weller
Absent: None
City Staff Present: Tracy Jones, Staff Planner
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - JANUARY 28, 2020
The minutes were approved as presented.
III. PUBLIC COMMENT
There was none.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
ZA #20-02/ PARKING AND SETBACK VARIATIONS/ 201 W. WESLEY STREET AND 210-214 N. HALE STREET/ NORTH HALE LLC
Pursuant to notice duly published on January 24, 2020 and letters mailed to neighboring property owners on January 22, 2020, Chair Weller called to order the February 11, 2020 public hearing requesting approval to allow the construction and use of a three story mixed-use building at 201 W. Wesley Street and 210-214 N. Hale Street following the consolidation of the property and the demolition of all existing structures. The proposed mixed-use building will have a retail use on the main floor, an office use of the second floor and a residential dwelling unit on the third floor. The application is requesting setback variations to Article 19.5 of the Wheaton Zoning Ordinance to allow a setback of 0.3 feet from the north property line (Karlskoga Avenue), a setback of 0.0 feet from the east property line (Hale Street), and a setback of 0.4 feet from the south property line (Wesley Street) in lieu of the required 5.0 feet for all three setbacks. The application is further requesting a parking variation to Article 22.1.4 of the Wheaton Zoning Ordinance to allow 9 on-site parking spaces in lieu of the required 47 parking spaces. The property is.4 acres in size and will remain zoned C-4 CBD Perimeter Commercial District.
John Myefski, 400 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago was sworn in. Mr. Myefski stated that he was the architect working on the project and his client, Bruce Bond, is proposing to construct a three story mixed-use building at 201 W. Wesley Street and 210-214 N. Hale Street following the consolidation of the property and the demolition of all existing structures. The proposed mixed-use building will have a retail use on the main floor, an office use of the second floor and a residential dwelling unit on the third floor. The proposed building will be slightly less than the maximum permitted height of 50.0 feet. The proposed building contains both interior mechanical and trash rooms, so no rooftop mechanicals or outside dumpsters are proposed. A main floor office lobby entrance is proposed off Wesley Street and a main floor residential lobby entrance is proposed off Hale Street. An entrance drive off Karlskoga Avenue is proposed to provide access to the secure, 9 on-site parking spaces.
Mr. Myefski stated that his client is requesting setback variations to Article 19.5 of the Wheaton Zoning Ordinance to allow a setback of 0.3 feet from the north property line (Karlskoga Avenue), a setback of 0.0 feet from the east property line (Hale Street) and a setback of 0.4 feet from the south property line (Wesley Street) in lieu of the required 5.0 feet for all three setbacks.
Mr. Myefski stated that the main floor is setback between 3.0 and 4.67 feet along the three street sides in order to create a potentially larger seating area for the retail use on the first floor. The second floor extends 3.0 feet past the main floor footprint. In addition, the third floor is inset from the second floor footprint.
Chair Weller stated that except for the requested setback variations, the proposed building meets all the bulk regulations in Article 19 of the Zoning Ordinance.
Chair Weller stated that the City adopted Downtown Design Guidelines in 2001. The subject property is located within the Traditional Core Area per the Downtown Design Guidelines. In the Traditional Core Area, the guidelines recommend that that “the footprint of any new structure should extend to the public right-of- way at all street-facing facades, with no setback up to at least the second floor for multiple-story structures.” In addition, streetscape improvements were recently completed along Wesley and Hale Streets and wider public sidewalks were installed that give the subject property more separation from the street.
Chair Weller stated that the proposed building mass is in compliance with Downtown Design Guidelines.
Mr. Myefski stated that the exterior of the building would be a combination of glazed glass windows, compressed stone, reclaimed tan brick with a black steel canopy and window edging.
The Board questioned the restaurant sign on the proposed building elevation.
Mr. Myefski stated that this was for discussion purposes only and that his client understands that this zoning request if for retail on the main floor and not a restaurant use. If his client desires a restaurant use, he further understands that he’ll have to come back for additional zoning approval.
Michael Werthmann, 9575 W. Higgins Road, Rosemont was sworn in. Mr. Werthmann stated that he was the parking consultant working on the project and the subject property is located within the boundaries of the Downtown Parking Overlay District. In the District, retail space requires 1.05 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area, office space requires 1.81 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area, and residential space requires.78 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area. Based on the proposed mix of 7,639 square feet of retail, 16,446 square feet of office and 9,261 square feet of residential, a total of 47 on-site parking spaces are required.
Mr. Werthmann stated that the reduced parking requirements of the Downtown Parking Overlay District were established due to the availability of parking spaces within the municipal parking garage and on-street public parking. The subject property is also adjacent to properties in the C-2 Retail Core Business District, where no on-site parking is required.
Mr. Werthmann stated that his client is requesting a parking variation to allow 9 on-site parking spaces in lieu of the required 47 on-site parking spaces. He stated that their study area boundaries were Union Avenue, Main Street, Front Street and West Street. In this study area, there are 826 public parking spaces with 401 on- street and 425 in Lot 2 and the Wheaton Place Garage. The parking counts on Thursday, January 9, 2020 showed a peak parking demand of 511 vehicles and the parking counts on Saturday, January 18, 2020 showed a peak parking demand of 506 vehicles. Therefore, between 315-320 parking spaces were available on both days.
Mr. Myefski addressed the variation standards as required by the Zoning Ordinance. He stated that the proposed setback and parking variations would not be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, comfort, convenience or general welfare of the neighboring property owners.
Chair Weller questioned how many parking spaces Mr. Bond had for his existing building on Hale Street.
Bruce Bond, 233 E. Prairie Avenue, Wheaton was sworn in. Mr. Bond stated that he had some on-site parking spaces behind their existing building on Hale Street and he also had permits in the Wheaton Place Garage for 22 additional parking spaces.
Frank Kohout, 128 N. Main Street, Wheaton was sworn in. Mr. Kohout stated that he owns the building on Main Street with Alpha Graphics. He added that there is a lack of commercial parking in Downtown. He added that the number of public parking spaces listed for Lot 2 in the KLOA parking study was not correct.
Mr. Werthmann apologized for the discrepancy in the parking study and stated that the correct numbers would be provided to the Board.
Gerald Schmidt and Eric Ostensen, 224 N. Main Street, Wheaton were sworn in. Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Ostensen stated that they were on the Board of Trustees for Gary United Methodist Church. They stated that while they were generally supportive of new development in the area, they were concerned with the lack of commercial parking in Downtown and future employees and patrons of this building illegally parking in the church parking lot. They requested that the Board require additional parking studies (with parking counts done in the spring), since there were discrepancies in the KLOA parking study.
Glenn Kosirig, 213 W. Wesley Street, Wheaton was sworn in. Mr. Kosirig stated that he owns the commercial building just west of the subject property and there is a lack of commercial parking in the Downtown.
Jim Atten, 117 W. Wesley Street, Wheaton was sworn in. Mr. Atten stated that there is a lack of commercial parking in Downtown, but it isn’t Mr. Bond’s responsibility to fix the problem.
Sam Hurtado, 655 Alchester Drive, Wheaton was sworn in. Mr. Hurtado stated that there is a lack of commercial parking in Downtown and the metered parking spaces are a pain.
Following a presentation by the petitioner and questions and comments from the Board and public, the Board discussed the request and decided that additional information was needed.
Mr. Gudmundson moved and then Mr. Plunkett seconded the motion continue the public hearing until February 25, 2020 for the applicant and staff to provide additional information to the Board. On a voice vote, all voted aye.
Specifically, the Board requested answers to the following questions/ statements:
1. Clarification on the number of public parking spaces in Lot 2.
2. Net gain/ loss to the number of existing on-street parking spaces.
3. Whether parking variations were granted for the existing uses on the subject property.
4. The impact of potential restaurant users on the first floor.
5. Parking time restrictions on North Hale Street and other surrounding streets for employees.
V. MISCELLANEOUS
There was none.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Dabovich moved and then Mr. Wanzung seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 p.m. On a voice vote, all voted aye.
https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02112020-1352
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