Property transfers p. B10
July 15, 2020
Homes
Powered by the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors
Battle erupts over rezoning Home Avenue historic property Developers open to talks with neighbors By LACEY SIKORA Contributing Reporter
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n the 300 block of South Home Avenue in Oak Park, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed but didn’t end a heated debate over proposed new development and increased density in Oak Park’s Ridgeland Historic District. The controversy centers on two lots -- 327 S. Home Ave., site of a former single-family home long ago converted to four rental units, and, 329 S. Home Ave., which is vacant green space. For many neighbors, the first hint that the area was the site of a proposed 16-unit development came in March when a village sign announced public hearings on the developer’s request for a zoning change. The property sold in August 2019 for $785,000, to Mazola Home Ave. LLC, a development company managed by Claudia Mazola, a real estate
broker affiliated with New West Realty in Chicago, which is managed by former Chicago Alderman Ted Mazola. River Forest architect John Schiess is designing the project. Schiess has been involved with many local developments, including the Oasis townhouse project on Chestnut Lane, located behind the proposed Home Avenue development. Now though the tensions are not just between neighbors and the developers. Instead Ted Mazola said Monday that Schiess had “misrepresented” what current zoning allows to be built. In an R5 district only a two-flat can be constructed. The original plan developed with Schiess called for 16 units plus the renovated four-flat next door. Mazola, who said he has always wanted to meet directly with neighbors, said he would plan a meeting and “listen to their concerns.” He said he understands the size of any project will now be notably reduced but that he would ask neighbors to support “building something more than a deuce (two-flat).” Original plans for the vacant parcel of land See HOME AVE. on page B4
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
AT ISSUE: Neighbors are at odds with a developer who sought to build an L-shaped 16-unit development that would occupy greenspace (inset) and wrap around the home at 327 S. Home Ave. (above). July 15, 2020 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review
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