Downers Grove Takes First Steps Toward Restraining Inappropriate, Oversized Residential Developments.

Tuesday night, May 16, 2006, the Village Council adopted several zoning changes aimed at gaining some control over the teardown phenomenon in Downers Grove. These changes come into force in 90 days.  They affect the size and spacing to be allowed for new and redeveloped houses.

In particular, after August 2006, new houses may cover no more than 32% of the lot they sit on.  New setbacks have also been put in place to increase spacing between houses.  On smaller, narrow, 50-foot wide lots, the effective, minimum side-yard setback has not been changed, but on larger and wider lots the minimum side-yard setback has been increased according to a formula based on the zoning district and lot width. Other changes included a new limit on height, as determined by the peak height of the house, and incentives for rear garages and front porches.

These changes are relatively modest, but they represent positive steps to address residents' concerns over new houses that are too large for their lots and crowd neighboring properties. The village staff have explained that these changes would rule out few, if any, of the new houses currently being constructed in Downers Grove. But hopefully they will prevent future extreme oversized developments and alleviate some of the worst cases of houses being shoehorned into lots in established neighborhoods.

The Village's 2005 Citizen Survey revealed that teardowns are now the problem of greatest concern to residents. The first public forum on teardowns, sponsored by the Downers Grove Watch, was held over two years ago. Since then the Coalition for Managed Redevelopment has continued to press for change through public forums, letters, emails, website information, and meetings with Village staff. The Coalition has also submitted formal comments to the Village staff, the Plan Commission, and the Village Council. The recent zoning changes, along with formation of an Architectural Review Board, represent concrete results from the efforts of Downers Grove citizens and groups like the Coalition.

Of course these are only the first steps to address the concerns of residents about the teardown trend and its effect on our community. Our priorities for the future include:

• Code enforcement at teardown sites. Some sites have become long-running eyesores or have been poorly managed, with mud, debris, large vehicles, and safety issues affecting the neighborhood. This problem has been acknowledged by the Council and we will ensure it stays in the spotlight.

• Historic preservation and better control over demolition permits.  Last year almost 2,000 village residents signed a petition, circulated by the Coalition and like-minded groups, to preserve the historic Orange Lyman house. The house was saved through the good graces of its new owner, but the controversy revealed that the Village has no mechanisms to ensure, or even encourage, preservation of historic sites.  Currently the Village staff is reviewing the procedure for issuing demolition permits and the Architectural Review Board is developing a historic preservation ordinance.  If enacted, it would represent another modest but significant step in the direction of protecting Downers Grove from uncontrolled redevelopment.

• Protection of trees. Our town, named after a grove of trees, nevertheless lags behind many other communities in offering protection for established trees as properties are redeveloped. Right now we have no laws and no policies in place to protect mature trees as homes are torn down and rebuilt (other than village-owned parkway trees). We will continue to press to bring this issue before the Village.

The newly adopted zoning changes were the product of a long deliberative process. Builders and other voices from the development community were heard, along with the Coalition and many individual residents who took the time to express their views through meetings, forums, and emails. We seem to have at least the beginnings of a dialogue for change.