Ward Zoning and Planning Committee Meeting: 6/28/06

Alderman Smith opened the meeting with a brief update:

• Ground has been broken on the new Senn H.S. park.
• There is a new traffic signal being erected at Glenlake & Broadway. Although there is not yet a design, there was a productive meeting on the library/senior’s center/park being considered at Thorndale & Broadway (the Armory).
• Red light ticketing will be installed at Foster & Sheridan shortly. The next intersection target will be Hollywood & Sheridan

She then turned the meeting over to Tom Samuels for a discussion of traffic issues and potential thoughts and solutions in the 48th Ward.

Tom shared some of his ‘white board thoughts” on traffic with us. [I need to stress that these are merely things that are being looked at and are not considered to be real agenda items at this time. There is no timetable for this. --Joe Trendl]

The idea is to put together a plan that enables vehicles to move more safely through our neighborhood. “Civilizing traffic” was the term used throughout.

There are some 200,000 autos that enter the ward every day off of Lake Shore Drive. There is some study being done so as to make our end of Lake Shore Drive more residential in feel and one of the thoughts is to narrow it before it turns into Sheridan Road.

Consideration is being given to take Sheridan Road from 4 lanes currently north of Foster down to 3 and incorporate a dedicated lane for left-hand turning vehicles. The study shows that the same amount of vehicles will be carried safely by slowing the pace of traffic. Some of the difficult intersections pointed out were: Bryn Mawr & Sheridan, Foster & Sheridan, Hollywood & Sheridan, Ridge & Broadway.

From Foster south to Lawrence: try to make Sheridan Road more “Marine Drive-like” in feel. Items for thought are: the use of bump-outs, redesigning the intersections, hanging overhead traffic lights across the intersecting streets of Foster & Sheridan, more green usage.

Argyle & Sheridan: do bump-outs on Argyle and try to create a real pedestrian-friendly commercial street.

Alderman Smith said (paraphrasing) that she would like “to reclaim the parkways and sidewalks along Foster Avenue, east of Sheridan. Add more green usage and tree canopy. Reduce the current 4 lane configuration down to 2." [Again, this is conceptual and would need to go through the same process as any development in the area.]

There were 2 items up for development votes:

• On Clark in Andersonville, there was an application by North Community Bank to install a branch (5301 N Clark) and they needed the approval as it is 600 feet away from a current bank. There were issues with the owner regarding leases and contract language. All was ironed out. The surrounding communities were happy with the results and a motion was made to vote. The approval was 26 yes votes, 0 nays, 2 abstentions. Carmen-Winona voted yes in alliance with the neighboring associations.
• 5640 N Sheridan: This is a single family house nestled between a 12 story building and a 21 story building on the west side of Sheridan just a few feet south of Hollywood. This was a rather contentious discussion. Some of the neighboring organizations were for it. Some were opposed for reasons of height and traffic concerns. The building had no zoning issues but needed alley access permission and exceptions for setbacks side and rear. After some rather heated discussion, a motion was made to approve the development pending further traffic studies. Votes cast were in favor, 16 yes, 4 no and 7 abstentions. Carmen-Winona voted to abstain, because it was not clearly favored by all of the immediate surrounding block clubs.