Elmhurst-area residents worry proposed plan draws them out of picture
For the past 18 months, planners and city officials have studied five areas of Elmhurst designated as key sites for future improvements.
But as the plans inch toward potential council approval, some residents say the city's vision doesn't match their own.
Several homeowners in the unincorporated West Yorkfield subdivision north of Elmhurst Hospital and south of Butterfield Road say they want the city to fix crumbling streets and install stop signs to slow cut-through traffic.
But what the city wants, according to its "subarea plan" created by Houseal Lavigne Associates, is to gradually annex unincorporated properties and replace houses with multifamily housing; institutional facilities such as medical offices or assisted living centers; and mixed-use commercial buildings, depending on the site.
West Yorkfield neighbors say the plan creates too much uncertainty for the area where some have lived their entire lives. So the owners of 37 homes in the neighborhood want the city's plans adjusted or scrapped.
"By putting this plan together, the city has basically put us in a box, or in limbo, where we cannot attract buyers to our homes if and when we need to sell," said West Yorkfield resident Dan Cusack, whose house is among the closest to Elmhurst Hospital. "You put a plan out there that says, 'Our future is to eliminate all the single-family homes in this area' (and) it kind of puts us behind the eight-ball in that regard."
The West Yorkfield area already is somewhat of an unusual patchwork. Its base is houses of various ages and sizes on half-acre lots, but three houses are bordered on three sides by parking lots for the hospital. One of those belongs to Amy Field, who says her gardens and lush trees offer some buffer.
"I've tried to shield myself by growing," she said.
Several houses sit on a street where neighbors say the hospital owns the rest of the land, making them wonder if and when they'll have a medical office or another hospital-related use next-door instead of vacant, tree-dotted space.
"Kendall (Avenue) will probably be the next step in hospital development," said West Yorkfield resident Ann Swies, who has lived on the street for 31 years, "And we need to know we'll be included."
Officials, including assistant planning and zoning administrator Eileen Franz, say the subarea plans would serve as a guide for future development and an update to the city's 2009 comprehensive plan.
Along with the York Street and Butterfield Road area, the subareas include Lake Street west of York Street; the intersection of North Avenue and Route 83; a one-block area at First and York streets; and the intersection of York and Vallette streets.
Susan Rose, a former alderman who now leads the zoning and planning commission, says such plans have "some force in decision-making" because members of the commission, an advisory body that makes recommendations to the city council, are required to consider them when proposed developments come forward. Members are not required to follow the plans, but the documents must be consulted, Rose said.
Nothing in the subarea plans says the ideas must be achieved in a certain time.
"It's not real clear as to how this plan would be implemented," Cusack said, "and we are all concerned about this piecemeal-type approach."
But Rose said the aim of the subarea plans is to be more of a visionary document, providing ideas drawn from the "collective wisdom of people in this community."
The city has hosted focus groups and gathered input online since the council authorized a $74,500 contract with Houseal Lavigne in spring 2017 to conduct the planning.
The next step toward potential approval is deliberation and a vote by the zoning and planning commission, which is expected to take place during a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at city hall, 209 N. York St. The plans then would be discussed by the city council's development, planning and zoning committee, and then finally by the full council.
Although the content of the York Street and Butterfield Road area is troubling to the West Yorkfield neighbors, Rose said it's not uncommon for such a document to attract opposition.
"Not everyone is going to agree with everything, as in any collective vision," she said. "It gives a snapshot of what the community thinks."