Will Schaumburg OK new apartment parking plan?
The developer of a proposed 192-unit apartment complex on Algonquin Road in Schaumburg has endeavored to meet the request of village zoning board members to add more parking, though not the full 50 spaces asked for.
The verdict on whether the revised parking plan is sufficient for a recommendation of approval is likely to be heard at the zoning board's next meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
UrbanStreet Group LLC's new parking plan for the 6.5-acre site at 680 E. Algonquin Road near the Motorola Solutions campus adds 25 spaces to the 224 in the original proposal.
But the new plan also sets aside specific areas of green open space that could be turned into 23 more spaces if such a need is felt in the future, Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.
Village staff believes the new parking plan was presented in good faith and has recommended its approval, Fitzgerald said. But staff also accepted UrbanStreet Group's market study that its original parking plan was adequate — a finding zoning board members disagreed with in late October.
Some members said that insufficient parking is a complaint they already hear too often after developments are completed and it's too late to make changes.
According to village code, the original plan was 179 parking spaces short of requirements.
But zoning board members felt 50 more was a reasonable compromise with what the developer's market study was suggesting.
Bob Burk, managing partner of UrbanStreet Group, said the zoning board's request was never considered a deal-breaker for the project, as much as his firm believed in the original plan.
“We feel we had (sufficient parking), but a little more parking is never a problem,” Burk said. “It was a reasonable request. We have the land mass; it's just a question of how you want the land mass used.”
What the firm originally wanted was more landscaping amid the project's six apartment buildings. Of the planned parking spaces, 159 are in garages along the ground level of the buildings.
The planned complex is the first major residential development to be proposed in Schaumburg since the recession, and would be the first rental apartments to be built in the village in about 30 years.
Village staff said monthly rents at this complex are expected to start at about $1,000, with a small number of larger units going for about $3,000.
Even if the zoning board were to recommend approval Wednesday, the village board would then have to give final approval at a future meeting.