Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge trustees to preserve Jackson Storage building, oppose nearby 112 E. Burlington plan
Summary
Multiple residents told the board the Jackson Storage & Van Company building is landmark‑eligible and urged preservation; one resident said 82 of 94 submitted comments were opposed to the proposed 112 E. Burlington development.
At the end of the Dec. 8 meeting several residents urged the village board to preserve the Jackson Storage & Van Company building and criticized a proposed development at 112 E. Burlington.
Architectural photographer and resident Lauren Whitney Swindle told trustees the Jackson building is "landmark eligible" and said recent SHPO materials support that finding. "Demolishing it does not simply remove one building, it diminishes the integrity of the designation itself," she said, arguing the building contributes to the La Grange Historic District and that demolition would reduce the district’s authenticity and potential tax incentives.
Al Foreman, another resident, told trustees he has tallied public responses and said 82 of 94 individual submissions were opposed (about 87 percent). He said neighbors are especially concerned about massing, setbacks and impacts to adjacent single-family homes and asked trustees to weigh resident feedback carefully.
Other nearby residents described the proposed development’s reduced setbacks and balconies projecting closer to single-family property lines than code typically intends and urged trustees to consider the historic-district context and the comprehensive plan’s community-character guidance.
Board response: trustees thanked residents for attending and asked staff and counsel to continue processing the plan-commission record and public feedback consistent with the village’s review procedures. No final decision on the project was recorded at the meeting.
What happens next: the matter remains in the land-use review process; trustees and staff will use plan-commission materials, the SHPO report and public comments when reaching future actions on the development and any preservation options.
