La Grange Improperly Approves Permit

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange acknowledged recently that it improperly approved a permit for a garage nearly a decade ago, creating problems for the new homeowner.

At a Village Board meeting earlier this month, Brian Murray, who lives at 124 S. Waiola St., pleaded for officials' help with the issue.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained a staff memo about ways to address the problem.

In the memo, Village Manager Jack Knight said the village approved the permit in 2014 for building a garage in the backyard.

But the garage exceeded the allowable building coverage on the lot, which required a board-approved exception to zoning rules. In other words, the permit should not have been approved without undergoing that hurdle.

Murray wants to build a new garage because the current one is at an "awkward" 90-degree angle, taking up much of the backyard.

Under the village code, Knight said the board would be unable to approve the requested garage. It would be over the limit in square footage in which exceptions can be allowed.

Knight said the village could either change the village code and waive Murray's fees because of the earlier mistake. Or he said Murray could propose a smaller garage that would fall in the range for exceptions.

Knight wrote his memo after Murray emailed the Village Board in mid-December about the issue.

Murray, who bought the house in 2016, said it shouldn't fall on him if the village improperly permitted the garage.

"(I)f the work wasn't approvable under the code, that should have been caught in 2014, and I could have fairly considered the outcome of that when I bought the house," Murray said. "My proposed project would not make anything worse (the garage would have the exact same dimensions and would have a lower roof, reducing its visual impact)..."

He said the construction of the garage in 2014 caused friction with neighboring homeowners at the time.

"(It) created an unusually bad situation where the lot at 124 S. Waiola is almost entirely paved over, leading to significant water runoff," Murray said.

"The whole issue is form over substance – the planning department agrees that my project would be beneficial and should be done, but they do not have the power to approve it without my jumping through multiple, expensive hoops first."