Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories about a development planned for Highland Park’s Oakwood Avenue that we’ve been getting a lot of letters about lately. Early next week we’ll look at the developer’s proposal for the site.
HIGHLAND PARK – A group called Oakwood Neighbors has been steadily preparing for the city’s Jan. 19 Plan and Design Commission meeting to argue against MJS Development’s proposed plan for Oakwood Station, a luxury, four-story, 27-unit apartment building. The site at 1554, 1556 and 1576 Oakwood Avenue previously housed two single-family homes and a duplex.
The neighbors have written letters to Plan and Design Commission members , local newspapers and news sites, including Daily North Shore. They’ve passed out leaflets at train stations and streets near Oakwood including Green Bay Road, Glencoe Avenue, Lincoln Place and Mulberry Place. They’ve even devised a different strategy for the lot, including scale drawings from a professional architect.
What’s their goal?
“Our objection is to an RM2 building that is out of scale in size and context,” said Carole Shifman spokesperson for Oakwood Neighbors. “Ideally we would prefer to see an RM1 building on the site.”
Shifman previously explained to Daily North Shore, “The problem with consolidating three lots from RM1 to RM2 is that RM1 is lower density, lower height, and RM2 is higher density and higher height, which effects setback requirements, etc.”
“The proposed parking plan includes some dead-end parking that doesn’t meet the minimum required depth of nine feet for a vehicle to back out into the lot and then drive away,” Shifman said. “To meet this code requirement, the proposed plan would have to eliminate four parking spaces, which would reduce the parking below the 63 spaces required for RM2 zoning density.”
Another concern is a heritage oak tree located at the recessed entry to the building below ground level with a curved retaining wall. “To build a retaining wall that works will damage the roots of the heritage oak and kill it,” said Shifman. “The developer’s design requires a retainer wall.”
Heritage trees include oak and walnut (greater than or equal to 30”), American elm (greater than or equal to 40”) and hickory (greater than or equal to 20”), according to the City of Highland Park. All sizes are measured in DBH (diameter at breast height).
“A local architect who lives in the neighborhood and has practiced in Highland Park for more than 20 years has graciously worked on the drawings,” said Shifman. Developer Steven Sanderman will also submit scale drawings of the 40 foot, four-story building per the committee’s request.
“We will present an alternative design that’s more acceptable to the neighborhood,” said Shifman. “It will protect the tree and provide an adequate amount of parking and it will sit within the context and character of the neighborhood. This design would work at RM1 or RM2.”
Shifman continued, “Clearly those parcels will be developed as a multi-family building. We’d prefer it to be at RM1, but if the building’s going to be at RM2 we’d prefer a modified design that fits the character and scale of the neighborhood, provides adequate parking, and protects the heritage oak.”
Oakwood Station rendering.