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Surf Update
August 8, 2008- Today we received written approval for Part 1 of our Property Tax Assessment Freeze Program from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. This means that upon acceptance of Part 2 (agreement on what is to be preserved); our project will qualify for a 12-year property tax freeze. This should give us a huge competitive advantage over local competition in that it affords our buyers an approx $200,000 real estate tax advantage. The Part 2 site visit by IHPA is scheduled for Sept 19th.
June 19, 2008- The Surf Team had the Department of Planning & Development hearing today at City Hall. The city P&D team presented our project with our attorney Jim Banks. After the presentation the committee of 12 voted unanimously to approve our project. We are now ready for applying for permits and start the marketing process. The "high-end" market is starting to see some nice improvements and look forward to pre-selling our units by next spring. One advantage we will have over other similar units in our price range with is an eight year real estate tax freeze that will save the average buyer $200,000 in RE taxes. New drawings will be posted on the site this week.
May 27, 2008- We just received news that the fifth vote came in and in favor of our project! A major delay hurdle is over and on our way to final P&D approval in June!!!
March 28, 2008- The Surf Team had the ZBA hearing today at City Hall. We had two residents that were objectors due to the size of the building and access from the private alley in the rear of the project. We do not feel this will impact the boards decision on the three variances we asked for. The ZBA decision should be out by April 8th since the vote was 2-2 and the 5th member now needs to review the testimony and render a decision. If everything goes well as planned, we should be breaking ground in May. If the decision is adverse, then we will need to make adjustments to our plan and re-submit to the ZBA.
October 20, 2007- Permits and three zoning variances (administrative adjustments) have been applied for at the ZBA and the public notice sign is up. The legal staff is busy with Lakefront Commission at the Department of Planning and Development, CDOT and Fire Department. All should be completed this month. The next step is ZBA approval, and then we file permits and start building!
September 6, 2007- The Surf Team had our formal Landmark Committee meeting at City Hall and the project was approved unanamously! Many thanks to John Hanna, Alderman Tunney and local residents who came out in support of the project. Next stop is Zoning....
August 13, 2007- The Surf Team did a follow-up presentation to SELVN today and answered many questions about the project. As expected, neighbors were concerned about the look, size and project layout. Overall, the reception was very nice and most, if not all, questions were answered. The President of SELVN proposed a motion to approve the land marking project as presented. The motion was made, seconded and approved 12-0 with 3 abstentions. The motion carried a concern about the "bulk" of the building with regards to the east extension of the building behind the land marked bay section. SELVN will now send a letter to the Landmark Commission with the motion results and landmarks should then move forward with the approval process. Next stop, zoning board of appeals..
July 9, 2007- The Surf Team (Povalish, Hanna and Banks) had our major presentation at the monthly meeting of SELVN (South East Lake View Neighbors), a member of the Lake View Citizens Council. Overall, the presentation and following questions were great! The major concerns of the neighbors were drainage, sight lines, parking congestion and project design. We presented that the building drainage will be done directly into the city storm sewer thereby reducing the risk of flooding, reviewed the landmark requirements and how we intend to comply, the design of the four units, closing a curb cut on Surf and the driveway entrance off of Pine Grove. WE feel the major plus of the meeting was the announcement that we are reducing the number of units from twelve to four. We will present again at the August 13th meeting and the SELVN board will vote on the project. From there we will go directly to zoning and the Lakefront Conservation Committee for final approvals before permitting. The project drawings from the meeting are located in the PROJECT PLANS section of the web site.
June 1, 2007- We are tying up a few loose ends with Alderman Tunney's office and have a meeting scheduled for the second week in June to establish a final time table for zoning clearance, final Landmark approval and meetings with the local neighborhood association and Lakefront Commission. The General Contractor and Marketing Agency are finalizing unit finishes and should have a draft marketing brochure completed by month end. We are pushing everyone hard this month so we can get final sign-offs and pull building permits within the next 60-days. Well known attorney Jim Banks has joined the legal team. Together with our lead council, Schwartz Cooper Chartered, he will help us get this project done on time. We will post updates as they become available.
May 1, 2007- We have now completed our review at the Zoning Department and are headed to the Landmark Commission for approval. Upon receipt of architechitual colored drawings of the proposed developed site, these drawings will be posted on this web site and the developer, Bruce Povalish, will be meeting with all neighbors and the Lake View District Homeowners Association to bring them up-to-date on the project development and to address any concerns about the project and the construction process. Our anticipation is to break ground in September and to have the project completed by the end of 2008 or Spring 2009 will all units pre-sold by mid-summer 2008.
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