Channing Square approved
June 28th, 2007The Elgin City Council voted 6-1 in favor of the project–Figueroa dissenting. After viewing the presentation and everything, I think it’s a reasonable project. I wasn’t aware that the plans do include a pocket park, and that significant upgrades are planned for Channing Park. The homes themselves are tastefully designed, high-fidelity reproductions of historic houses. I normally don’t agree with the idea of building reproductions, but in this case I think it’s the best option. Quality modern architecture can fit into historic neighborhoods very well, but the price point would be above what is reasonable in this area. So I think the only realistic option for a high quality project in this case, are period reproductions. The homes have garages in the rear with an alley, so it’s definitely traditional. And it will appeal to people who are looking for TND houses.
The Aspen development company will receive about a million dollars in cash (in addition to land, etc.), and the average selling price would probably be about $300K ($280K starting price). They’re developing 14 homes on the site, so their total revenue on the project should be about $5.2M, assuming they sell everything. The city’s cash incentive comes out to $68K per house.
The Channing Square presentation and Q&A ran for almost an hour, so everything else got backed up. I wasn’t able to stay past 7, so there won’t be a city council wrap-up this week.
Council Wrap-up: I stayed for the entire meeting, and can provide these comments. All remaining votes were without a “No”. A group of new U.S. citizens were presented in a touching ceremony featuring ECC choral singers. The public input portion of the meeting followed the Channing Y vote, so everyone who attended to speak about the project left unhappy. A WW2 vet presented a $300 check from a raffle fundraiser, a 75yr disgruntled man railed against the council, Julie Schmitt made an impassioned speech against the infill project, and I fumbled through a plea to modify the project to add more open space / less density. Two major developers made presentations for public input regarding their far west Elgin plans, but no one had input. I asked Wyndham homes about environmental mitigations, and was given a very nice overview of their Wetlands preservation. Nice project!
Posted June 28th, 2007 at 1:51 pmThe presentation to the Council on the Channing Development by Sean Stegall looked very pretty - on paper - but was unfortunately filled with half-truths and inaccurate information!
Unfortunately this plan completely ignores all the recommendations that have been made to improve this neighborhood, but will make Sean Stegall’s resume look great, along with Aspen Builder’s PL Statement.
The concepts of the house plans are very pretty, but picture 14 of these squashed together on 2.72 acres! While the plan calls for a pocket park, EVERYONE knows these are virtually useless, and the fact that it will be a private park, owned by the homeowners association, was completely glossed over.
In regards to the development of the Channing Park. It was stated that this park will only be 2 blocks away - wrong! Channing SCHOOL is 3 blocks, the Park location is actually 4-5 blocks. Additionally it was stated the park will be 6 acres. Wrong again! The property the Channing School occupies is approximately 6 acres, with the school itself occupying about 1.5 acres. The balance is currently open space, most of which the school district still owns. The City of Elgin is developing the NE corner of the property into a park, which will include tennis courts, on approximate 1+ acres.
Sean also state the neighborhood had siginificant input - this is also completely wrong! A small committee of 6 GPA members were approached to advise on the project AFTER the details were completed! The only recommendation accepted were those that would need to be complied with anyway to be able to build in the Historic District! Sean and co. totally dismissed any suggestion regarding creation of a useful neighborhood park and less density! This will be the MOST DENSE piece of land in the district!
I do agree with Sean that we need more private investment! BUT we need it in the form of more deconversions and NOT infill housing. Sean quite proudly stated the fact that there were 3 deconversion taking place in the Historic District this year. I find that pathetic when there are 54 2 apt homes in the neighborhood north of Chicago, and 36 4-5 apartment homes as well. Just how many of those could be deconverted with $2 million?
Some of the City Council members asked some pointed questions, none of which were answered. I applaud Juan Figuroa for being the ONLY Council Member to truly represent his constituency.
Before the election, I spoke with Mike Powers, John Steffen and Dave Kaptain regarding this development and what their position was. They agreed with me that it was not a good solution for the neighborhood. These men were elected with the belief they would represent us. However last night proved that politicians don’t change their colors, but keep talking out of both sides of their mouths!
Can someone explain to me what these men were thinking? Are they getting a kickback from someone? We are spending $2+ million dollars for a development NO ONE has proved will add to the neighborhood!
Posted June 28th, 2007 at 2:55 pmdoes anyone know where I can see the plans?
Posted June 28th, 2007 at 9:04 pmHere is a link to a PDF of the siteplan.
http://corporatetravelpro.com/channing.pdf
Posted June 28th, 2007 at 10:58 pmTodd,
Posted June 29th, 2007 at 12:00 pmThanks for the excellent city council wrap-up!
Hi Julie,
Thanks for the additional information. It raises interesting questions.
I would love to see them take another look at the deconversion program and see how it can be improved. I have some ideas about that, which I’ll share on the blog sometime in the future.
I don’t know if Channing Square is now more or less a done deal, but I was glad to see strong grassroots effort on both sides of the issue. I think it indicates a strong community, and I look forward to seeing everyone stay involved.
Posted June 29th, 2007 at 12:07 pmCITY COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT ~ NEW Channing Square Development Plan being presented!
The City Staff is at it again - they are presenting a new development plan for the Channing Square Development at 111 N. Channing St. The plan which was presented to the Elgin Planning and Development Commission on October 1st was DENIED! ALL residents who spoke were against. Tonight the City Council is being presented with a revised plan, technically making it a new plan. The City is again shunning due process to suit their own ends - none of this new plan has been reviewed by either the Heritage Commission, Planning Commission or the public.
Why do we even bother to have zoning laws and the Historic District if that can just be ignored by, and those laws doe not apply to King Shock?
I just want to know - who are the partners in Channing Square LLC? As it is an LLC, they are not required to publicly record this with the State of Illinois.
Posted October 24th, 2007 at 10:41 amWell, tonight’s vote was in favor of the development. Dave Kaptain made an excellent argument in favor of delaying the vote, but the Mayor prevailed.
In my opinion, Julie was too angry, bordering on hateful, to be effective in her 3 minute presentation.
Steffen & Walters, while voting in favor of the project, both spoke in favor of improving the pocket park to include a toddler playground. After the meeting, I spoke with them and they do plan on pursuing this further with the developer.
Also, the original proposal was improved to ‘only 13′ instead of 14 homes, which allowed for deeper setbacks and some additional off-street parking. So, I think that everyone’s efforts DID make a positive impact.
TDM
Posted October 24th, 2007 at 10:32 pmThanks for the update, Todd. I wasn’t able to make the meeting last night.
Posted October 25th, 2007 at 8:27 pmDoes anyone know if the train whistles all night long were discussed at the council meeting? The city wants a high quality of life, then get rid of the train whistles all night long!
Posted October 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am