Planned development at Vine Street Station scaled back; trustees send second major adjustment to June meeting

Trustees at the May 13 Hinsdale meeting took first reading of a second major adjustment for Vine Street Station, a planned development converting a former school building at 125 S. Vine St. into age-restricted lifestyle housing, and agreed to consider final approval at a second reading at the June meeting.

The developer representatives told the board they are reducing the approved unit count from 12 to 7 (comprising two four-bedroom units, two three-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units), increasing unit sizes up to 2,754 square feet, and reducing overall density. The minimum lot area per unit would increase from 2,220 square feet to 3,805 square feet, and the maximum units per acre would decrease from 19.6 to 11.4. Proposed parking would be 22 spaces versus the 11 spaces required by code, producing about a 3-to-1 parking ratio per unit compared with code’s roughly 1.5-per-unit standard.

Applicant representative Drew Mitchell said removing the property from the FEMA flood plain allowed changes to lower-level use and floor elevations; he described the reduction in density as a response to market demand for larger units, particularly from downsizing residents. Craig Ross of Ross Builders reviewed site changes including photometric (lighting) adjustments because an existing building entrance sits close to the property line and a door-mounted light can exceed the village’s 0.5 foot-candle maximum at the adjacent property line. Ross listed other alterations: additional landscaping to screen utilities, adding stairs to grade-level mechanical rooms, a change in the private courtyard wall height, a common-area generator with screening, a concrete retaining wall with an aluminum guardrail, a reduction in flagpole height from 35 to 19 feet, replacement of single-hung windows with European tilt-and-turn windows for ventilation and egress, and a change in the garage door style.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about the sunken patio and the garden-level unit; the applicant said the unit adds usable floor area, provides egress, and expands the project's pricing range. The applicant indicated move-in for the first residents is expected in about one year.

Plan commission chair Steve Cashman and Trustee Stifler indicated they and staff reviewed the changes and recommended advancing the item to a second reading rather than re-referring to the plan commission. The board reached consensus to move the second major adjustment to a June second reading; no final vote on the adjustment occurred at the May 13 meeting.

Next steps: the developer and staff will refine technical materials (photometrics, landscape and site plans) and return for a vote at the June meeting.