A 271-apartment downtown Oak Park development got preliminary approval from the Oak Park Plan Commission last week, a decision that led to the resignation of a commission member.
At the July 9 Plan Commission meeting, members voted 6-2 to approve the Oak Park Station development, which includes two buildings containing approximately 26,000 square feet of retail space, 428 parking spaces and 271 luxury apartments.
The development would sit on the property located between Lake Street, Harlem Avenue, North Boulevard and Marion Street, with one of the buildings reaching 20 stories in height.
According to Village Planner Craig Failor, the Plan Commission will meet again on July 16 to hold public hearings regarding two alleyways on the site and put together a report for the Village Board.
“The hope is the Village Board will approve and come back to the Plan Commission [to address various conditions],” Failor said. “The expectation is the Village Board will review it Aug. 3 and, if approved, send a portion back to the Plan Commission and parts to the Public Arts Advisory Commission.”
The Plan Commission’s conditions included streetscape changes, the screening of the parking garages and pedestrian bridge, more artistic approval, a study on building material and the redesign of the north facade of the south building garage, among others.
Earlier this year, the Village Board reached a new agreement with Clark Street Development on a new development contract, which stated the proposal must complete Plan Commission review by Aug. 3.
Mark Benson, who along with Garret Eakin voted no to the development, vented his frustrations with the process after the meeting, which eventually led to him resigning from the Plan Commission.
In an email to Pioneer Press, Benson said he felt “every second of [his] time was wasted” in regards to the two nights of hearings.
“I didn’t read every single page of that massive plan and sit through hours of testimony on multiple nights just so the commission could blindly forward an unfit project,” Benson wrote. “Instead of making a recommendation to the board with a million sweeping contingencies for the developer to change, let’s take another week or two and see the changes. I like this development. I believed that I would be enthusiastically voting yes for this development once it was ready.
“This is so close to being a good project and government let it down. Acting as it did, it’s not hyperbole to say that the Plan Commission process is completely unnecessary.”
Village spokesman David Powers confirmed Benson had informed the village of his decision to resign from the Plan Commission.
If approved by the village, the Oak Park Station development plans to begin construction as early as November 2015, with initial occupancy taking place in September 2016. Developers hope to have the entire project completed in early 2017.
Twitter: @steveschering
