Plan Commission Continues Tweaking Village's Downtown Redevelopment Plan

About 50 concerned residents attended Tuesday night's Plan Commission meeting to discuss the city’s downtown redevelopment plan.

The commission modified the plan, removing the proposal to build multi-family housing along the south side of the tracks off of Howard Avenue and Johnson Avenue, a modification which eased many residents’ concerns. 

One resident, Karen Kanack, said she appreciated the Plan Commission taking out the plans south of the tracks. The increasing height of buildings downtown including the old Tischler’s building also concerned her.

Another resident, Mark Laubacher, believes increasing the height requirements of the old Tishler’s building is necessary to bring business in.

 “I’m a strong advocate for four-story permitted use at those two Wolf Road intersections; it's ideal," Laubacher said. "With three-story it’s a non-starter;[there’s] not enough units to finance the demo and all of expensive exterior materials that this community requires."

The city hoped the proposed multi-family housing on the south side of the tracks attracted developers to build structures such as senior housing, said Director of Community Development Martin Scott.

Since the Plan Commission is unsure whether or not to attach the downtown redevelopment plan to the 2003 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the committee will continue the public hearing for this issue on June 28 at 7 p.m. at Village Hall.

This is the second continuance of this hearing due to controversy over interaction with the 2003 Land Use Plan. A lot of residents' concern is the old plan will conflict with the new plan, said resident Klaus Koch.

Village Attorney Michael Jurusik said that if the redevelopment plant conflicts with the land-use plan, the newer plan would take precedent. He added that it is better to integrate the new plan academically and legally, leaving no doubt to what this plan is and where its priority is.

Not attaching the Downtown Redevelopment Plan to the 2003 Land Use Plan could create some confusion under a redevelopment scenario, Scott said.

The city’s downtown vision remains the same: “Downtown Western Springs will be an economically sustainable center of community life, offering a charming and vibrant destination to meet daily for shopping and dining needs.”

The proposed plan includes:

• Permitting multi-story commercial building to use its upper stories for apartments 
• Allowing for some building to increase its height to 4 stories
• Redeveloping the post office to include restaurants or offices
• Revamping the village to contain retail on the ground level and the village hall above

The plan also gives building owners flexibility to either redevelop or bring in a new tenant, said a representative from Teska, the architecture firm who helped the city with this plan.