Solis seeks to downzone Newman Center site to prevent dormitory

By Susan S. Stevens 

The Newman Center’s plans to build an eight-story dormitory and a larger chapel adjacent to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) campus failed to win support from Alderman Danny Solis (25th) last year, and now he seeks to further limit growth at the Roman Catholic facility.

A Solis-sponsored ordinance would classify the Morgan Street property as RT-4, a residential, two-flat, townhouse and multi-use area. The area had been zoned RM-5, a residential multi-use district, when Newman proposed the dorm. That zoning would have allowed buildings five or six stories high, said Stephen Stults, director of City services in the Alderman’s office.

“It is called a down-zone,” Stults said. “It is less dense, lower square footage, lower height.”

After owners of houses south and west of the Newman Center complained at two public meetings and collected 500 signatures on petitions opposing the plan, Solis said he would not support Newman’s request for a zoning change that would permit the dorm.

“I concur with their assessment that it is not a good idea to put a dorm there,” Solis told the City Council Zoning Committee June 14 before it voted unanimously to send the full council the down-zoning ordinance. The full council was expected to concur at its July meeting.

“I just want to go on record saying how delighted we are that Solis is responding to the community," said Peter Quigley, a Morgan Street townhouse resident, at the meeting.

Valerie Denney, secretary of the Vernon Park Townhomes Association board, testified the dorm east of the development would be misplaced in “a very beautiful neighborhood” that is one of the few remaining low-rise neighborhoods near the Loop.

After the vote, she said it is “a big step in the right direction. We are confident this is going to solve the problem.”

“I am delighted the down-zoning passed and that our Alderman as well as the Zoning Committee has the interest to maintain our neighborhood,” said Joan Kistner, a Morgan Street resident. She cited safety as a big factor in her opposition to the dorm, which would have sat at the center of three cul-de-sacs that she termed “dead ends.”

Chris Provenzano, executive director of the University Village Association, echoed the praise, saying, “Alderman Solis has gone far and beyond due diligence.”

Solis said he had been told Newman Center officials planned to look for another site for a dorm but did not have further details.

“We offered to help them find another location, but they did not call us,” Stults said.

Rev. Patrick Marshall, chaplain at Newman Center, did not return calls. Joseph Zosky, a developer who had worked with Marshall on plans for a dorm, said of the down-zoning, “That is news to me” and declined further comment.

Dave Betlejewski, executive director of the 18th Street Development Commission, worked on the down-zoning as a consultant to the Alderman. The main reason for the change is that most of the neighborhood is R-4, low-rise residential, he said.

“There was a lot of response from people in the neighborhood that they were not looking for any high-density use, that they were looking for something more in keeping with the current neighborhood,” Betlejewski said.

Alderman William J. Banks (36th), chairman of the Zoning Committee, had a further suggestion for Solis: a covenant. “It is a pretty good community tool," Banks said. "You can negotiate parameters for what a property can be used for.” That would stay with the land through sales. “It becomes part of the deed,” Banks said.

“We use covenants constantly in land use planning decisions,” Banks said. “I do that so communities can be reassured about the status of change.”

“This has been an eye-opener on the process,” Kistner said after attending a zoning hearing for the first time. “It makes us more concerned about other developments.”