Appearance Commission grants dormer certificate for Tripp Avenue; member again recused

The Skokie Appearance Commission voted to grant a certificate of appropriateness for a second-floor dormer at 8041 Tripp Avenue on March 11, 2026, with a condition allowing the owner to extend the south dormer to the existing first-floor exterior wall if a pending zoning text amendment permits that option.

Staff told the commission the proposal is a 189.5-square-foot dormer addition that increases the second-floor area from about 260 square feet to 449.5 square feet, and that the dormer sits within the building’s existing footprint and does not expand the first-floor footprint. Staff also noted a zoning text amendment under review that would allow certain second-floor additions on substandard side yards to align with existing first-floor walls without seeking a variation.

The commission’s chair announced a recusal at the start of the case, saying he had recused himself in February because “I’m friends with the homeowners” and would do so again for consistency; the vice chair presided over the Tripp Avenue discussion. The applicant’s representative described alternative drawings that would raise the ridgeline without increasing the floor-area ratio and said the homeowner would be willing to raise the ridge if approval were granted. “We could bring the ridgeline up and then, you know, bring it to line up with this,” the applicant said.

A motion to grant the certificate, conditional on permitting the dormer extension at the owner’s option if the zoning amendment is approved, was made and seconded. The commission approved the motion by voice vote.

What happens next: the certificate allows the applicant to move forward with exterior work as presented; whether the dormer can be extended to the first-floor wall at the owner’s option depends on the outcome of the pending municipal zoning text amendment.