A sunset and a front porch.
That’s all one needed for entertainment at the turn of the century. Family members would sit on the porch, talk to their neighbors and keep an eye on things happening on the street.
It’s a scene that might be making a comeback in Mt. Prospect.
The village Zoning Board of Appeals has voted 3-2 to recommend that the Village Board soften a 65-year-old prohibition that one Mt. Prospect historian said helped cause the demise of the front porch across the village.
The setback rule, dating to 1943, prevents homeowners from extending their property to within 30 feet of a sidewalk unless the village grants them a zoning variance.
Those who favor amending the zoning ordinance contend doing so might rekindle a desire for porches.
“On any given day, I’ll have about 10 kids in my front yard,” said Wayne Zediker.
He recently had a 30-foot front porch built onto his turn-of-the-century, Georgian-style home on Maple Street.
Getting the village to go along with the project, though, took three months and an untold amount of frustration, Zediker added.
The porch, he said, would be “a safe place for (children) to visit and play when it rains, so they are still outside and not forced to go indoors.”
After a brief discussion, zoning board members voted to recommend letting owners of existing homes use part of their front yards for unenclosed porches.
The amendment wouldn’t apply to new construction.
“I think we need things like this in Mt. Prospect to keep people here and allow them to update the quality of their homes,” said zoning board member Jack Verhasselt, who voted for the change.
“Otherwise, we’re going to start losing people.”
Board member Marshall Ponzi, however, was unconvinced.
“I’d like to see us leave the zoning ordinance as it is and leave the setbacks as they are, and review each variation on a case-by-case basis to maintain some control over the character of zoning in the village,” said Ponzi, who voted against the measure.
The recommendation now goes to the Village Board for final action.
Serious discussions about porches surfaced earlier this month, when two residents sought permission to add the feature to their homes. In the last 5 years, the village has received dozens of similar requests.
Police said they support the back-to-porches movement because, in the past, families often could be found there, keeping tabs on street activity close to home.
So, the structures have more than just an aesthetic function.
“Offenders don’t commit crimes where they feel someone is watching or can see them,” said Bill Roscop, a Mt. Prospect crime prevention officer.
For Lynn Robbins, the addition of her porch has nurtured closer ties with neighbors. It’s also a nice bit of nostalgia that reminds her of growing up in Evanston, where front porches abound in the older sections of town.
“I remember how as kids we would congregate on a front porch to pick players for the stickball games,” Robbins said. “People would walk in their neighborhoods and say hello. I wanted to go back to the grass roots of neighborhood living.”
She also said the porch has changed the appearance of her 1950s-era ranch-style home in the Triangle Park area near Central Road. Now, the front of her home is adorned with ceramic planters of petunias and geraniums.
