On Monday, February 26th, Alderwoman Hadden and the owners of the property at 7015 N. Sheridan Road hosted a community meeting to discuss a proposed zoning change for the property located at 7015 N. Sheridan Road.

The property owners, Adrian and Amy Marchis, have resided at 7015 N. Sheridan for multiple years. They would like to build a 20-dwelling unit on the site of a single family home. The parcel is currently zoned RT-4 and the owners would like to rezone the parcel to a B2-3. Of the 20 dwelling units, 4 of the dwelling units will be affordable under the Chicago Affordable Requirements Ordinance at 60% of AMI, 2 of the dwelling units will be 100% Type A-ADA accessible, and 1 of the dwelling units will be Adrian and Amy's home.

Since the property is located in the Lakefront Protection Zone, the Chicago Plan Commission will review and hold public hearings on certain development projects within proximity of the City's Lake Michigan shoreline in accordance with the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance.

The building will include 2 and 3 bedroom units, will contain 10 vehicular parking spots and 20 bicycle parking spots in a covered and secured garage, a building elevator, and several environmentally-conscious building features such as a green roof.

A community survey regarding this zoning request received 136 responses. Of those responses, a majority of respondents were in favor of supporting this zoning change request. Our survey received 75 responses in favor, 11 responses in favor with minor changes, 12 responses in favor with major changes, and 38 responses were against the zoning change. Therefore, the zoning change request received 72.06% support in some form from all respondents. 

However, there were some concerns regarding the architecture and refuse generated by the property. Therefore, in April,  Alderwoman Hadden requested a follow up meeting with the applicant to address these concerns prior to issuing a decision.

The major concerns from the community survey were as follows: 
1.) No reductions or increases in parking.
2.) Vehicular maneuverability in the alley adjacent to the property.
3.) The architectural aesthetic of the building. 

On May 14th, the applicant presented to our office revised plans for the property at 7015 N. Sheridan Rd. The revisions are as follows: 

1.) The property is going to maintain 10 parking spaces - no increases or decreases in parking.
2.) To address vehicular maneuverability, the trash and recycling dumpsters have been moved and plans include removing/burying the electrical poles in the rear allowing more maneuverability for cars. The garage door size will be increased to allow cars to enter and exit from multiple angles with more space.  The property owner will also look to add round mirrors along with light/sound alerts as safety mechanisms whenever the garage door opens to provide additional assistance with car entry and exits and can also look to add clearly visible signs on the rear of the building that specify not to park or block entries.
3.) The architect reworked the front facade to add more brick articulation, a cornice, separations on the ground floor, etc. These changes incorporated both the feedback from the Department of Planning and Development and neighbor responses to our survey. 

With these modified plans, Alderwoman Hadden WILL SUPPORT the zoning change request for 7015 N. Sheridan Rd. We look forward to continuing working with the property owner to bring new housing opportunities to the 49th Ward!