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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Planning and Zoning Commission
DATE: October 8, 2021
SUBJECT:
An Ordinance Establishing a Conditional Use Planned Development, Approving the Fox Valley Apartments-Lincoln School Plan Description and amending Chapter 49 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Aurora, by modifying the zoning map attached thereto to an underlying zoning of R-5 Multiple-Family Dwelling District for the property located at 631 and 641 S. Lake Street (Fox Valley Apartments, LP / Lincoln School / 631 and 641 S. Lake Street / CUPD / Rezoning / Final Plan and Plat - 21-0713 / AU28/1-21.267-CUPD/Rz/Fsd/Fpn - JM - Ward 4)
PURPOSE:
The Petitioner Fox Valley Apartments, LP is requesting the Establishment of a Conditional Use Planned Development, and to change the zoning district from R-3 One Family Dwelling District to R-5(C) Multiple-Family Dwelling District with a Conditional Use on the property located at 631 and 641 S. Lake Street which includes the adaptive reuse of the historic Lincoln School and the construction of a new building for residential housing.
BACKGROUND:
The Subject Property is currently with R-3 One Family Dwelling District zoning. The Petitioner is requesting the Establishment of a Conditional Use Planned Development, and to change the zoning district from R-3 One Family Dwelling District to R-5(C) Multiple-Family Dwelling District with a Conditional Use. The details of the request include a Plan Description with variations to the Zoning Ordinance and Building Code to allow the historic school to be repurposed into 14 workforce housing units and the construction of a new building housing 22 units. These variations include varying setbacks, allowing two buildings on one lot, increasing height and lot coverage, and reducing parking due to the use as workforce housing. Additional requirements on the elevations of the new building is also included.
Concurrently with this proposal, the Petitioner is requesting approval of a Final Plat for Lot 1 of Fox Valley Apartments-Lincoln School Subdivision. This request will consolidate the multiple lots into one lot for the two buildings.
The Petitioner is also requesting approval of a Final Plan for a Multi-Family Dwelling (1140) Use. The details of the request include reducing the entrances on Lake Street from three to two curb cuts. The circular drive with parking will remain in front of the building. Additional parking will be added along the drive aisle beside the historic school. A total of 58 parking spaces will be provided. A portion of the concrete behind the building will be redone for a new parking lot for both buildings. The remaining concrete will include the footprint of the new building. The new building’s main entrance will face the parking lot with two exists facing Woodlawn Avenue.
The historic school appears to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. As the developer is pursuing using Historic Preservation Tax Credits, the historic school will remain mostly unchanged from the exterior. The renovation also includes preserving many of the significant interior elements, including lockers, doors, and chalk boards. The new school will be compatible to the old through the use of a red brick veneer, regularly arranged window openings, and hipped roof lines. While the entrance is facing the internal parking lot, the more decorative elevation will face Woodlawn Avenue. That elevation will feature four gable cantilever bays and two parapet bays on the end. The building will be clad in brick on the ends, the parapet bays, and in the center along with two varying sizes and colors of cement board siding.
The Landscape Plan includes additional understory street trees along Woodlawn, beds of shrubs along the entrances and foundations, and evergreen trees and shrubs along the perimeters abutting single-family homes to provide year-round screening.
DISCUSSION:
Staff has reviewed the Conditional Use Planned Development petition and have sent comments back to the petitioner on those submittals. The petitioner has made the requested revisions to these documents and they now meet the applicable codes and ordinances.
Local stonemason and carpenter Clark Brown Colwell designed and built the original block of the school, which was called the South Lake Street School when it opened in 1891. The school was remodeled in the late 1920s, with a gymnasium constructed in 1926 and an auditorium and classrooms added in 1928. With this remodel the building was renamed the Abraham Lincoln School. It served as a school until 2009 when it closed and has sat vacant since. Prairie style architectural details are evidenced in the deep roof eaves with wood bracketed soffits and decorative limestone blocks in geometric patterns. The historic school appears to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The developer is pursuing the use of Historic Preservation Tax Credits.
Staff has the following comments regarding the Findings of Facts:
Conditional Use:
1. The project will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, morals, comfort or general welfare as the development will reuse a building that has historic significance to the community and reuse a building that has sat vacant for over ten years for rental housing, providing for diverse housing types to accommodate the needs of Aurora's population.
2. The conditional use will not be injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity or diminish or impair property values as it allows for transition from manufacturing across Lake Street and high density residential to the single-family uses along Woodlawn. It will also create less people using the site than the former school. It will also prevent the property from sitting vacant and becoming a blighted property.
3. The development will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding properties as there is setbacks and landscape screening provided to the single-family. It will also develop a vacant property and thus improve the neighborhood.
4. There is currently adequate water and sewer capacity to serve the project.
5. The project does provide adequate ingress/egress. The main access points will be reduced from three curb cuts on Lake Street to two and the one access from Woodlawn will just be shifted west. The traffic generated by residences should have less of an impact on the neighborhood than a school, which had very high amounts of traffic at specific times of day. While not providing our typical two spaces per unit, staff feels that workforce housing does not produce the standard two parking spaces per unit parking need.
6. The Conditional Use in all other respects conforms to the applicable regulations of the R-5 zoning district.
Rezoning
1. Staff has noted below the physical development policies that the proposal meets.
2. The proposal does represent the logical establishment of the requested classification in considering the existing area as it is a high-density residential development that is adjacent manufacturing and single-family housing, providing a buffer between the uses.
3. The proposal is consistent with a desirable trend of development in the area as it provides additional housing options in the area, provides additional range of housing prices, provides buffers to the surrounding uses, and reuses a vacant historic building.
4. The rezoning will allow uses that are more suitable uses than the existing zoning classification as it is not feasible to reuse the historic school for single-family.
5. The rezoning is consistent with the existing area as it brings additional residential housing options to a property that abuts manufacturing across the street.
Public Input: Due public notice was given for the public hearing on this matter. As of the date of this memo, staff has not received public inquiries regarding this petition.
POLICIES AND GUIDELINES:
The Staff’s Evaluation and Recommendation are based on the following Physical Development Policies:
11.1 (5) To guide and promote development to areas where public utilities, public roads and municipal services are either available or planned.
11.1 (3) To encourage new development contiguous to existing development.
12.0 To plan and provide for the growth of the city through the integration of land use patterns and functions that promotes complementary interactions between different land use components.
12.1(6) To promote the buffering of low density residential areas from high intensity uses with higher density residential when appropriate.
14.1 (3) To protect, preserve and restore the historical and architectural heritage of the City.
20.0 To insure the provision of decent housing and a quality living environment for every resident of Aurora.
21.1 (1) To promote access to housing opportunities for all economic, racial, religious, ethnic and age groups.
21.1(2) To promote a wide variety of housing types.
21.1 (3) To promote housing in all price ranges for purchase or rent.
22.1 (5) To recognize the unique characteristics of individual neighborhoods and promote their positive attributes.
23.1 (7) To encourage that adaptive reuse of commercial and industrial structures to housing where such conversions are economically feasible, supportive of revitalization efforts, and consistent with the land use plan.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended APPROVAL of An Ordinance Establishing a Conditional Use Planned Development, Approving the Fox Valley Apartments-Lincoln School Plan Description and amending Chapter 49 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Aurora, by modifying the zoning map attached thereto to an underlying zoning of R-5 Multiple-Family Dwelling District for the property located at 631 and 641 S. Lake Street.
ATTACHMENTS:
EXHIBITS:
Exhibit A - Legal Description
Exhibit B - Plan Description
Land Use Petition with Supporting Documents
Property Research Sheet
Legistar History Report
Legistar Number: 21-0713
cc:
Alderman Michael B. Saville, Chairperson
Alderwoman Patty Smith, Vice Chairperson
Alderman Carl Franco
Alderman Sherman Jenkins
Alderman Ron Woerman
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
ORDINANCE NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
An Ordinance Establishing a Conditional Use Planned Development, Approving the Fox Valley Apartments-Lincoln School Plan Description and amending Chapter 49 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Aurora, by modifying the zoning map attached thereto to an underlying zoning of R-5 Multiple-Family Dwelling District for the property located at 631 and 641 S. Lake Street
body
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora, is the owner of record of the real estate legally described on Exhibit “A”, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth, and hereafter referred to as Exhibit “A”; and
WHEREAS, by petition dated September 3, 2021, Fox Valley Apartments, LP, filed with the City of Aurora a petition requesting the Establishment of a Conditional Use Planned Development, and to change the zoning district from R-3 One Family Dwelling District to R-5(C) Multiple-Family Dwelling District with a Conditional Use on the property located at 631 and 641 S. Lake Street in the form of Exhibit “B” attached hereto, and have been duly submitted to the Corporate Authorities of the City of Aurora for review for the property described in Exhibit “A”; and
WHEREAS, after due notice and publication of said notice, the Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on October 6, 2021, reviewed the petition and recommended APPROVAL of said petition; and
WHEREAS, on October 13, 2021, the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee of the Aurora City Council reviewed said petition and the before mentioned recommendations and recommended APPROVAL of said petition; and
WHEREAS, the City Council, based upon the recommendation and the stated standards of the Planning and Zoning Commission, finds that the proposed Conditional Use Planned Development is not contrary to the purpose and intent of Chapter 49.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows:
Section One: That the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois finds as fact all of the preamble recitals of this Ordinance.
Section Two: That this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect, and shall be controlling, upon its passage and approval.
Section Three: That all Ordinances or part of Ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed insofar as any conflict exists.
Section Four: That any section, phrase or paragraph of this Ordinance that is construed to be invalid, void or unconstitutional shall not affect the remaining sections, phrases or paragraphs of this Ordinance which shall remain in full force and effect.
Section Five: In accordance with Section 104.3 of Chapter 49, being the Zoning Ordinance and the Zoning Map attached thereto, and Article VI of Chapter 34 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Aurora a Conditional Use permit is hereby granted for a Planned Development (8000) use for the real estate property legally described in Exhibit “A”.
Section Six: That this Conditional Use permit hereby granted is solely for the purpose of a Planned Development (8000) use and is subject to all of the conditions set forth herein which shall be binding and remain in full force and effect upon the property, the petitioner and their respective heirs, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and devisees for the duration of said conditional use.
Section Seven: That the Plan Description in the form of Exhibit “B” attached hereto and included herein by reference as if fully set forth and incorporated in and made a part of this Ordinance is hereby approved:
Section Eight: That should any of the above-stated conditions not be met or that the property described in Exhibit “A” is not developed in accordance with the Conditional Use the City Council shall take the necessary steps to repeal this Ordinance.
Section Nine: That future proposals for expansion or intensification of whatever kind for the property legally described in said Exhibit “A”, except as provided for herein, shall be considered only upon proper application, notice and hearing as provided by Article VI of Chapter 34.
Section Ten: That Chapter 49, being the Zoning Ordinance and the Zoning Map attached thereto be, and the same are, hereby amended to rezone the real estate property described in Exhibit “A”, from R-3 One Family Dwelling District to R-5 (C) Multiple-Family Dwelling District with a Conditional Use. Upon termination of the use of said property for a Planned Development (8000) this Conditional Use permit shall be terminated and the classification of R-5 Multiple-Family Dwelling District shall be in full force and effect.
Section Eleven: That this Planned Development (8000) use shall remain subject to compliance, except as herein modified, with the minimum standards of all applicable City Ordinances.
Section Twelve: That all modifications and exceptions under the Zoning Ordinance and all modifications and exceptions from the Subdivision Control Ordinance, as set forth in the Plan Description, are here by granted and approved.