November Meeting & Newsletter

When?
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
6:30 PM: Doors open
7:00 PM: Meeting Begins

Where?
Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Soutport

Agenda

Cook County Assessor – Fritz Kaegi
– making your Property Taxes go down?
Newly elected Assessor Mr. Fritz Kaegi will update the membership on his election promise to make real estate assessments more in line for residential homeowners when compared to the under- assessed high-rise buildings Downtown. The plan would be for the high-end Downtown buildings to pay more real estate taxes than they have been. Will our neighborhood taxes go down? Who knows. But there is the $880 million City Budget short fall… Let’s see what he has to say.

2933-35-37 N. Southport and 2956 N. Lincoln – Developer Plan
The long-time owner of 2933 N. Southport, started buying up neighboring properties and has now toggled together the three properties on Southport north of the alley and 2956 N. Lincoln Ave resulting in an unusually shaped piece of land for development. 2933 N. Southport was formerly the site of The Emerald City Theatre for children. The two Southport properties are two-flat frame rentals. 2935 does not appear occupied. 2956 Lincoln is a three-flat frame with unoccupied comercial at ground level. It is south of Papacitos Mexican Grill. The lots are all non-conforming city lots that are land-locked and are basically connected in the back. These buildings are not in good shape.

Developer Proposal: The lots are all zoned B3-3 with a total of 7,200 square ft. One standard city lot of 25×125 is 3,125 sq.ft. The Developer is proposing a contiguous 4-story, 52ft. high building with twelve 2-bedroom condo units on floors 2-4 and commercial on the ground level on both sides. There will be only 11 parking spaces to make space for trash to be stored on-site. This will be a lot-line to lot-line development. Car access to the enclosed garage will be off the alley. The exterior design consists of black glass, dark gray and silver aluminum panels on the front and concrete block elsewhere.

No zoning change is needed for this Development. However, in order to achieve this plan, the Developer needs rear setback relief (no yards or open space), relief from the 1 unit to 1 parking space requirement (short one space) and “alley access” relief.

Alley access relief is required under the current zoning, no more than 6 cars can access a garage through the alley on a contiguous Development. The Developer is seeking neighborhood approval before they appear at the Zoning Board of Appeals. SLN’s Neighborhood Development & Review Committee (NDRC) does not support the proposal of this specific plan and recommends reducing the total number of Units to 8. In addition, the NDRC recommends that a building design fits into the character of the neighborhood and that a traditional brick and limestone trim would be better.

Nearby Developments:
2964 N. Lincoln is a new high-end brick building that houses The Bloomfield Development Co on the first floor. That building extends from Lincoln to Southport with the garage access off of Southport. 2962 N. Lincoln is a 3-level brick building that is in the process on a total gut rehab. The architect’s Site Plan can be found at the back of the newsletter

This will be a voting issue.

311 System – Modernization
Great News. The City is revamping the 311 system. The City has partnered with the William Everett Group to speak to and listen to residents and businesses about the changes.

Wazwan Supper Club Pop-up Restaurant – 3056 N. Lincoln Ave.
Pop-up is the new thing in the food industry. Wazwan features a Kashmir/Indian cuisine. Most recently, they had a stint in Ukrainian Village. 4.5 star rating on Yelp. They will probably bring some food.

Read more in the newsletter.