Zoning Board of Appeals

1 APPROVED 2 MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS 3 VILLAGE OF NORTHBROOK 4 COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 5 August 26, 2013 6 7 1. Call to Order 8 Chairman Decker called the meeting to order at 7:37 pm in the Board Room of 9 Village Hall. Members Craig, Geslicki, Robicsek, Schofield and Chairman Decker 10 were present. Members Lown and Pick were absent. A quorum was present. 11 12 Chairman Decker motioned, seconded by Member Schofield, to make Member 13 Robicsek Chairman Pro Tem for tonight’s meeting, as it is his last. The motion 14 passed by voice vote. 15 16 Village staff present included J. Maisch, Zoning Administrator and Code Enforcement 17 Official, and L. Sweet, recorder. 18 19 2. Review of Minutes 20 Member Schofield, seconded by Member Decker, motioned to approve the minutes 21 of the July 22, 2013 meeting as presented. On voice vote, the minutes were 22 approved. 23 24 3. General Public Comments 25 There were no comments from the audience. 26 27 4. Public Hearing and Consideration of Petition: 28 Chairman Pro Tem Robicsek announced that the dockets would first be heard in the 29 public hearing portion of the meeting. ZBA deliberation and decision regarding the 30 docket would occur immediately following the hearing, during the regular meeting. 31 If members of the audience are not able to stay for the regular meeting they can 32 contact the Zoning Administrator for results. Petitioners will be sworn in, and 33 should address the Board. Neighbors within 250 feet were notified of each petition. 34 As required by state statute, the hearing notice for all dockets was published in the 35 August 8, 2013 Northbrook Star. 36 37 DOCKET NO. 13-Z-10 – Petition by Donna and Brad Sabin for a variation to reduce 38 the required front yard setback, as determined by averaging, from 37.56’ to 30.05’ 39 on the R-4 Single Family Residential property commonly known as 1233 Ridge 40 Road (04-10-206-031). The purpose the variation is to construct a new single 41 family residence. 42 43 Mrs. Donna Sabin was sworn in. She and her husband Brad own 1233 Ridge Road. 44 Mrs. Sabin thanked Jennifer for her assistance during the process. She also thanked 45 both the chairs and members for their time. 46  Minutes of a Regular Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting August 26, 2013 1 The Subject Property 1233 Ridge is a corner lot. The proposed house needs a front 2 yard setback variation from 37.56’ to 30.05’ due to the averaging rule. The house 3 will still meet the minimum R-4 District front yard setback of 30 feet. The previous 4 property owners applied for and received variations in for the construction of a new 5 home in both 2010 and 2011, but never built on the lot. 6 7 Two unique physical conditions exist: 8  The lot is subordinate in required area by 961 square feet, and 9  The lot is short of the required width by 10’. 10 11 Mrs. Sabin continued that an additional unique factor is that there is a sewer in back 12 that decreases useable space. The lot is legally non-conforming. 13 14 The requested variation will not affect the character of the area. The house across 15 the street received the same variation. Mrs. Sabin continued that she had 10 letters 16 from neighbors in support of the application. 17 18 Chairman Pro Tem Robicsek commented that Mrs. Sabin’s presentation was 19 excellent. Member Decker added Mrs. Sabin was the first Applicant he has heard 20 thank both commissioners and staff. As an aside, he thought that was nice. Member 21 Decker added it was a well-presented application too. 22 23 Acting Chair Robicsek commented it was unusual for the ZBA to hear an application 24 that had prior approval. Member Pick added he had already voted on this. He likes 25 the current design. 26 27 Member Geslicki asked, when you purchased the lot, did you consider meeting the 28 required setback? Ms. Sabin responded, we were confused; the chart that lists the 29 zones and minimum setbacks was different on two forms. At the time they were not 30 aware of it, and their architect was not either. They should have been aware but 31 were not. Member Geslicki questions that. 32 33 Member Decker has no questions. 34 35 Chairman Pro Tem Robicsek stated 1/3 or more of ZBA cases are caused by 36 footprint issues or averaging. Averaging is difficult. There is a lot of variation in 37 Northbrook. 38 39 Member Schofield, seconded by Member Decker, motioned to close the public 40 portion of the meeting. The motion passed by voice vote. 41 42 Member Decker, seconded by Member Schofield, motioned to approve: 43 DOCKET NO. 13-Z-10 – Petition by Donna and Brad Sabin for a variation to 44 reduce the required front yard setback, as determined by averaging, from 45 37.56’ to 30.05’ on the R-4 Single Family Residential property commonly 2  Minutes of a Regular Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting August 26, 2013 1 known as 1233 Ridge Road (04-10-206-031). The purpose the variation is 2 to construct a new single family residence. 3 4 Roll was called. The motion passed unanimously. Ayes (5): Craig, Decker, Geslicki, 5 Robicsek, and Schofield. 6 7 5. Old Business 8 There was no old business. 9 10 6. New Business 11 Chairman Decker stated Member Robicsek moving away is a loss for the ZBA. 12 Chairman Pro Tem Robicsek commented it was a hard decision to leave Northbrook 13 after 27 years. He and his wife raised two kids here. He has been involved in 14 various aspects of Northbrook government. The Village has changed a lot, and it has 15 been interesting. Member Robicsek served the ZBA under 3 different chairs. 16 However, moving is a chance for him to change careers and do something he loves 17 to do. 18 19 7. Adjourn 20 There being no further business, Member Craig, seconded by Member Decker, 21 moved to adjourn the meeting. On voice vote, the motion carried. Chairman Pro 22 Tem Robicsek adjourned the meeting at 7:55 pm. 23 24 Respectfully submitted, 25 26 /s/ Lindsay Sweet 27 Recorder 3