Arlington Heights trustees reject plan to build homes on Beverly Lane

A developer will have to go back to the drawing board after Arlington Heights trustees rejected a request to subdivide a 150-foot-wide, 19,800-square-foot property, knock down a house and build two new ones.

Neighbors of the home at 620 S. Beverly Lane, in Arlington Heights' Scarsdale neighborhood, argue the plans for new homes on two 75-foot-wide lots don't fit the character of the area, which is marked by several large homes on large lots. Eight village trustees agreed, voting Monday to deny the Leslie A. Karr Trust's subdivision request.

Only Mayor Tom Hayes voted in favor, siding with a 5-1 recommendation from the plan commission and village staff, who noted there are lot width sizes of 50 and 75 feet in the neighborhood.

But many trustees said the difference is the property's location in the center of the block, between Fairview and Rockwell streets, where neighboring lot widths measure 125 and 150 feet, and the property directly across the street is 207 feet wide.

Lot widths on the ends of the block are 50 and 75 feet.

“If this was the only parcel here that was 150 feet wide and all others were 50 to 75 feet, this would be an easy slam dunk decision,” said Trustee Jim Tinaglia. “But on this block, across the street, behind it, on the left side and right side, they're all these larger lots.”

“It will change the neighborhood,” he said.

Plans called for construction of two homes valued at up to $1 million each, but Tinaglia recommended the developer “build one home for $2 million and keep it in the same vein it's been for the last 80 years.”

Steve Daday, a former village trustee and attorney for the project, said his client purchased the property a year ago and considered renovating the house but deemed it too costly. That's when the buyer decided it would be best to build and live in a new single-family home, then sell off the other lot for another home.

Daday said lot sizes in the neighborhood were a “mixed bag” with some as little as 50 feet wide and argued the two new homes would raise neighbors' property values.

He said his client is still trying to determine what next steps to take.