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

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.

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.

http://corporatetravelpro.com/channing.pdf

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!