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Canopy controversy leaves downtown Arlington Heights restaurant in limbo

This story has been updated to reflect that Jim Platt is no longer business development director at the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.

A proposal to install a canopy enclosure above the outdoor patio at a popular bar/restaurant in downtown Arlington Heights is in limbo amid a dispute over definitions between the bar owner and village officials.

For Brian Roginski, owner of Cortland's Garage at Vail Avenue and Campbell Street, the 960-square-foot fabric canopy that would be installed over a portion of the patio is an alteration that requires a simple village building permit.

But for building and zoning officials at village hall, the proposed canopy is a structural alteration that requires zoning review by the design and plan commissions, and ultimate approval by the village board.

Roginski and business consultant Jim Platt argued the canopy wouldn't be a permanent structure: Its footings won't be encased in concrete, and the side flaps will rarely be used, except during inclement weather.

"We're being viewed as a building, as if we were putting a garage over there," said Platt, who was enlisted by Roginski to help navigate the permitting process. "It's not four solid walls and a solid roof. This is a temporary wall structure."

But village officials disagree, saying what's proposed is very much a permanent structure: It would have concrete footings in the ground, electrical wiring in the support beams and a thermostat wired to electric heaters on the interior, and is intended to remain year-round.

"The zoning code is black and white in our opinion," said Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development.

Roginski and Platt came to the village board meeting Monday night to ask the mayor and trustees to clear up confusion over the definitions, thereby expediting the permit process so the canopy could be installed before winter.

Village staff members - including Perkins, Village Attorney Hart Passman and Village Manager Randy Recklaus - said the appeal to the village board was improper; disagreements about zoning code interpretation are handled through the village's zoning board of appeals.

At the same time, Cortland's is going through the formal zoning entitlement process, though it may face an uphill battle.

Last week, the project went before the design commission, which recommended denial, citing concerns over its temporary appearance and negative aesthetic on a historic building in the downtown.

The project is set to be reviewed by the plan commission Nov. 17, before returning to the village board for final consideration of an amendment to the bar's special use permit and approval of a planned unit development.

"I have a lot of concerns about what this is going to look like and what it'll do to our downtown," Mayor Tom Hayes told Roginski and Platt.

The existing patio on the north side of Cortland's Garage bar/patio is uncovered, but owner Brian Roginski wants to put a 960-square-foot fabric canopy over it. Courtesy of Village of Arlington Heights
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