April 8, 2009 Mayor Jeffrey Harger And Members of the Board of Trustees Of the Village of Libertyville
Dear Mayor Harger and Members of the Board of Trustees,
The First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville has recently requested a special use permit from the Village of Libertyville that will allow it to tear down the historic 212 W. Maple Ave. house and pave the land on which that house currently sits with a parking lot to provide approximately (25) additional off-street parking spaces, to help meet the overall Village parking requirement, required by ordinance, to support the church’s current plans to renovate and expand its institutional building.
Over a (50) year period, the First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville has torn down at least (8) homes, and probably more, to serve its own needs, as well as the needs of others, as typically befits the role of a church in a community. Now, however, the Maple/Brainerd/Jackson/Douglas/Stewart neighborhood that is not affiliated with the church has had enough of this kind of tear-down activity. The neighborhood believes its own needs supercede the institutional needs of the church. The neighborhood believes it is at a tipping point, towards an institutional neighborhood, away from the existing character of its old, walkable, and therefore relatively rare, residential neighborhood. The members of the neighborhood also believe their property values are at stake, that there will be an “adverse impact” on those property values. The neighborhood is therefore contesting the church’s request for the assignment of a special use permit by the Village Board of Trustees to allow the house that stands at
The neighborhood is contesting the church’s request for the special use permit on the basis the church has not demonstrated, with relevant evidence, that it has met all of the standards for a special use permit. More specifically, there are other reasonable means available for the church to meet the approximately (50) additional off-street parking space requirements for the church’s planned renovation/expansion.
To meet the Village’s parking requirements for the church’s renovation and expansion plan, the church is required to provide a total of (179) off-street parking spaces over the long-term. Currently, before the destruction of the 212 W. Maple Ave. house and subsequent parking lot development, it can only provide approximately (129) parking spaces. With the destruction of the 212 W. Maple house, the church can provide approximately (25) additional parking spaces, for a total of (154) parking spaces. The church is still, therefore, approximately (25) spaces short of the number of spaces it needs to meet the Village’s parking space requirements for its renovation/expansion. Based on the immediate above analysis, and the general analysis of the value of its neighborhood, the neighborhood therefore recommends the church and the Village of Libertyville consider the following option:
A) Enter into a long-term agreement with Libertyville High School OR the Village of Libertyville, respectively, to obtain and share, on Sunday, the (50) additional parking spaces required at either the main high school parking lot or the new city parking garage, currently under construction, at Lake and Brainerd, and bus church members from one or both of these parking facilities.
In fact, at the March 23 Plan Commission Meeting, John Jepsen, 1st Presbyterian Church elder and representative for the church’s current renovation/expansion plan, under questioning by Plan Commissioner Howard, admitted the church is already considering approaching the Libertyville High School to help it meet some of its off-street parking requirements for its renovation/expansion.
Furthermore, the Libertyville Comprehensive Plan supports the neighborhood’s position about not tearing down the
Finally, if the church and Board of Trustees fails to seriously consider and act upon the alternatives to tearing down the 212 W. Maple Ave. house, as outlined above, and to communicate their findings regarding these alternatives to the neighborhood in an open, candid, reasonable manner, the neighborhood will conclude neither the church nor the Village Board of Trustees is concerned about protecting the character and corresponding real estate value of its neighborhood, since there are, in fact, probable suitable alternatives. Refusal to consider reasonable alternatives to the destruction of the 212 W. Maple house, will, in the neighborhood’s opinion, constitute a serious breach of faith, on the part of both the church and Village, with our Libertyville neighborhood and its associated residents and property owners.
Sincerely and respectfully,
The Maple/Brainerd/Douglas/Jackson/Stewart Neighborhood Group:
Michael and Elise Womack
320
Erik Cook and Jill Dennor
308
James Engdahl
234
Todd McDermott and Mira Hinman
Nancy McGuire
206 W. Maple Ave., #2E
323
Nancy Dunn
Mike and Marilyn Popp
Robert and Moira Morris
208 W. Park Ave.
Randee Clute
322 Brainerd Ave.
Sharon Starr
201 N. Stewart Ave.
Ousted Mayor Jeffrey Harger and his side-kick Luke Lukens were bad for Libertyville.
Intent to consolidate and abuse power to further your own agendas is never good public policy boys. Time to take your backdoor old school politics to where its tolerated if that's even possible.
Posted by: Weppler | 04/08/2009 at 09:29 PM