Applications filed for new gas station, 7-Eleven at Lawrence-Lawler in Jefferson Park, Starbucks at Harlem-Waveland & church lot at Ardmore-McVicker

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by BRIAN NADIG

Special use applications for a new gas station with a 7-Eleven convenience store at 5027-35 W. Lawrence Ave., a Starbucks Coffee at 3657-59 N. Harlem Ave. and an off-site parking lot at 6037 W. Ardmore Ave. for a church recently were filed with the city.

Plans call for the existing BP Amoco station, which includes a small store and service bays for car repairs, to be demolished and replaced with a Mobil gas station and the 7-Eleven. The parcel is located along the south side of Lawrence between Lawler Avenue on the east and the outbound Kennedy Expressway on the west.

Project attorney Robert Gamrath said that vehicle repairs would not be offered at the new station, which would include 17 parking spaces.

The project is contingent on the Zoning Board of Appeals issuing a special use to allow the construction of a new gas station on the parcel and a variation to reduce the required minimum west side setback from 4.35 feet to zero.

An application also was filed for a proposed Starbucks with a drive-through facility at the southeast corner of Harlem and Waveland avenues, where a Baker’s Square restaurant once operated. A proposal in February of 2020 called for the construction of an automated car wash on the site, but the project never materialized due to community opposition, which included traffic-related concerns.

There also are proposed Starbucks in the works for the Harlem-Montrose and Harlem-Bryn Mawr intersections, and there are existing nearby Starbucks at the Harlem-Lawrence and Harlem-Northwest Highway intersections.

Approval of a special use also is being sought for a proposed 36-space, off-site parking lot at the southwest corner of Ardmore and McVicker avenues, where the Saint Tarcissus Parish convent once stood. The landscaped lot would serve the new Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish, which represents a consolidation of the former Saint Tarcissus, Saint Cornelius and Saint Thecla parishes.

The proposal also is contingent on the issuance of a variation to reduce the front setback from 14.5 to seven feet .

The zoning board is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Starbucks proposal at its virtual meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, May 21. Information on how the public can provide testimony at the meeting is available at www.chicago.gov/zba. Hearing dates for the other proposals have not been announced.

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