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Bowling Brook homeowner seeks setback variances; neighbors warn of chronic flooding and wetland concerns
Summary
Akquil Ansari asked the DuPage County hearing officer for variances to reduce front and corner-side setbacks for a new house; nearby residents opposed, citing chronic flooding, standing water and tree clearing; the hearing officer left the record open for department input and scheduled a recommendation for June 3.
Akquil Ansari, the owner of a Bowling Brook parcel, told DuPage County zoning hearing officer Robert Carthol on May 6 that he needs front- and corner-side setback variances because of septic and access constraints. Ansari said his engineer relayed that IDOT would not permit a driveway onto Route 53, requiring the house to be sited farther from the street.
"We have to position this house where it is because of that," Ansari said, explaining that septic, well-water and IDOT access constraints drove his request to reduce a required 30-foot front setback to about 19 feet and the corner-side setback to roughly 23 feet (20 feet for a proposed detached garage).
Nearby residents, including Michael McGawan and Jose Cis Jr., opposed the variances. McGawan, who lives two houses south on Route 53, described chronic drainage issues in the Dupage River Flats and said, "this year I've had a 10 or 12 foot wide river of water come down across our properties." Jose Cis Jr. said residents consider the lot to hold standing water and that realtors had previously described it as unbuildable.
Carthol asked Ansari for written confirmation from IDOT and said he would also solicit input from the health, stormwater and public works departments. "I need to hear from the health department and our public works department and the stormwater department about this ... because this is a technical case," Carthol said, and he kept the record open for additional materials.
Ansari said he had an engineer inspect the lot and that the report indicated it was not in a floodplain; he also said he intends to live in the finished house so his elderly father can move in. No formal decision was made; Carthol scheduled the recommendation session for June 3 and said the matter will then move through the county development committee to the full county board for final action if needed.
The hearing officer explicitly distinguished his zoning determination from determinations about whether the lot is buildable; he said other departments’ technical reviews could affect whether construction ultimately proceeds.
