Lincolnwood Board of Trustees meeting June 21
by SEAN KEENEHAN
The Lincolnwood Board of Trustees at its meeting June 21 approved a special use and zoning code variations that will allow Oxford Real Estates Equities to construct a 4,500-square-foot retail building and a parking lot at 3701 W. Touhy Ave.
The property is in the M-B Manufacturing and Business District and Retail Overlay Zone, and Oxford plans to demolish an existing industrial building on the property and construct a building with a 28-space parking area that will be occupied by an AT&T retail store. The building will be at the west end of the property and set back from Lawndale Avenue, which requires a special use for off-street parking in front of the building.
Oxford also requested variations to allow less than the minimum 8-foot perimeter landscaping and less than the minimum 9-by-20-foot interior landscape islands as required by village code for off-street parking.
The village board also approved a special use and zoning code variations that will allow the ATF design and manufacturing firm, 3550 W. Pratt Ave., to construct a parking lot.
The property is in the M-B Manufacturing and Business District, and ATF plans to expand its existing parking lot along Pratt Avenue, which requires a special use for front-yard parking as well as perimeter and interior landscape variations.
The expansion 6,000-square-foot lot will have 14 parking spaces and an additional that will be paved over a lawn that currently occupies the proposed parking area. However, Mayor Gerald Turry and Trustee Ronald Cope said that with the removal of the lawn and the lack of green space in the business district, the new parking area should be maintained as a permeable space.
The trustees decided that since the company is removing a green space, it should be required to construct the parking area with a permeable surface or pavers rather than asphalt, in order to allow for water absorption that will prevent rain water from entering the sewer system in the village.
ATF also plans to install new bushes to screen the parking area along Pratt that will align with the existing row of landscape screening.
The trustees also approved a front-yard setback variation that will allow construction of a second-floor addition to a home at 6440 N. Leroy Ave. The 2,800-square-foot property is in the R-1 District, and the owners of the home plan to construct an 800-square-foot addition above an existing garage.
Village code requires a minimum 25-foot front-yard setback, and the garage is set back 24 feet 11 inches.
Also at the meeting, the trustees approved a variation for a wall sign on the south side of the medical building owned by MBRE Healthcare at 6540 N. Lincoln Ave. and denied a request for wall signs on the west side of the building.
The board also approved an amendment to the village sign ordinance that will allow Malnati’s Restaurant, 6649 N. Lincoln Ave., to install a sign directing patrons to the parking lot at US Bank, 6677 N. Lincoln Ave., that it uses evenings and on weekends. The parking lot is across the street from the restaurant, but village code did not allow a sign advertising that to be placed on the restaurant’s property.
The amendment allows one on-premises sign and one off-premises sign for the restaurant. The signs can be 7 feet in height and can include the name and location of the business with no business logo.
Also at the meeting, 35 graduating high school seniors from Lincolnwood were honored as "Student Achievers" and presented certificates and a flash drive.
The recipients are Christopher Baba, Natalia Bafia, Zamaan Bagban, Elias Bennett, Patrick Chan, Jacqueline Chis, Valerie Chuy, Reem Darwish, Kaylie Dyer, Anam Furrukh, Faith Geraghty, Hashim Ghalib, Emma Greene, Nicole Ieremciuc, Jensy Joseph, Tawfic Khoury, Bao-Tran Le, Jae Won Lee, Ameera Lodhi, Suha Mohiuddin, Michaela Morales, Matea Nikolic, Anastasia Papanastou, Barry Ruderman, Antonia Schmidt, Joshua Shimabukuro, Kate Silber, Cindy Son, Jamie Suh, Ligia Veliciu, Laura Volpe, Emily Voss, Daniel Weiss, Kristen Younan and Laura Younan.
In addition, Lincoln Hall principal Dr. Jean Weiss was named the "Human Relations Commission Person of the Year" and Paul Eisterhold was named as the "Madeleine Grant Volunteer of the Year."
