Revised proposal for former Lin’s Garden Site to be presented at next zoning meeting
by BRIAN NADIG
A revised proposal for a five-story condominium building at the site of the former Lin’s Garden restaurant, 6556 N. Milwaukee Ave., will be presented at the next meeting of the 41st Ward Zoning Advisory Committee.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at the Olympia Park fieldhouse, 6566 N. Avondale Ave. The committee makes recommendations to Alderman Anthony Napolitano on zoning issues.
The committee voted unanimously in December to reject an earlier plan for the 17,000-square-foot parcel, which also includes site of a monument company, due to residents’ concerns about parking and density.
Some nearby home owners also objected to plans to have the units leased because they believe renters tend to be more transient and less invested in the community, but the units now would be marketed as condominiums, Napolitano’s chief of staff Chris Vittorio said.
The revised plan calls for 24 living units and 30 interior parking spaces, which are unchanged from last year’s proposal, but the building would consist of fewer two-bedroom units. Twenty one-bedroom and four two-bedroom units are planned.
Residents said at previous committee meetings that the number of units should be limited to 12 and that that at 55 feet the building would be too tall. The design of the building is unchanged under the revised proposal, Vittorio said.
"The height scared everybody in the neighborhood," committee member Tony Chiavola said at the committee’s Dec. 2 meeting.
At the same meeting, committee member Mike Emerson expressed concern that the restaurant site could remain undeveloped for a long time, and he encouraged the project’s developer to consider revisions. "What we don’t want to is close the door on this development," he said.
Project officials have said that a dense development for the site is appropriate because it is on a main street, with nearby bus stops.
Two five-story residential buildings on Milwaukee are located about 1/2 block south of the site. The main entrance of each building is on Nashville Avenue.
