Source: Lincolnwood Review By: Natalie Hayes
Business owners and new builders in Lincolnwood may have to adhere to a more specific list of design standards for their buildings, if a new proposal from the village is passed.
The Village Board is considering a new set of appearance requirements for non-residential buildings, including what types of construction materials can be used and the percentage of the building surface required to contain “high-quality” materials, among other stipulations that would affect the outward appearance of buildings.
The Village Board is considering a new set of appearance requirements for non-residential buildings, including what types of construction materials can be used and the percentage of the building surface required to contain “high-quality” materials, among other stipulations that would affect the outward appearance of buildings.
To satisfy the high-quality materials requirement, at least 75 percent of the exterior wall of a building would have to be made of a type of material included in a list of what the village board considers to be high-quality. Those materials would be required to cover 100 percent of all façades from ground level to the top of the first floor windows, and any other materials would only be allowed as accents above those windows, according to board documents.
That minimum 75 percent requirement is more specific than the current standard, which requires buildings to use a “predominance of high-quality materials.”
The Plan Commission has been discussing the issue of changing these requirements since August of last year, but no public input has been received, said Paul Eisterhold, chairman of the plan commission.
“When coming up with these changes, we’re considering the village’s image and asking ‘what does the village want?’ but unfortunately we did not get a lot of input from the public,” Eisterhold said. “We got to the point where we said, let’s push it up to the board and at least we have a pretty good starting point that has addressed most of the problems and inconsistencies in the ordinance.”
The plan commission’s recommendation also listed specific types of building materials and separated them into three categories — permitted materials, permitted only as minor accents, and prohibited.
The list of six acceptable building materials — which comprises what is considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing and durable building products — includes natural stone, glass, brick at least 2.25-inches thick, sandstone, other native stone and pre-cast decorative stone.
Materials that could be used only as accents include split-faced brick, sealed and coated concrete masonry unit, decorative concrete block, hardy-board and pre-cast concrete panel.
The two types of material that would be prohibited in all uses are exterior insulation finishing systems and metal and vinyl lap board siding.
Trustee Jesal Patel suggested that some flexibility be added with the inclusion of an “other” option on the lists of acceptable materials.
“The same qualifiers used to determine the list of high-quality materials would be applied to the proposed material in the “other” category to determine if it could be used,” he said.
Rather than make a decision on the item, trustees sent it back to the Committee on Ordinances, Rules and Buildings for further discussion.
“If we could fine-tune this a little more, we might be able to start getting something in place,” Trustee Larry Elster said.
That minimum 75 percent requirement is more specific than the current standard, which requires buildings to use a “predominance of high-quality materials.”
The Plan Commission has been discussing the issue of changing these requirements since August of last year, but no public input has been received, said Paul Eisterhold, chairman of the plan commission.
“When coming up with these changes, we’re considering the village’s image and asking ‘what does the village want?’ but unfortunately we did not get a lot of input from the public,” Eisterhold said. “We got to the point where we said, let’s push it up to the board and at least we have a pretty good starting point that has addressed most of the problems and inconsistencies in the ordinance.”
The plan commission’s recommendation also listed specific types of building materials and separated them into three categories — permitted materials, permitted only as minor accents, and prohibited.
The list of six acceptable building materials — which comprises what is considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing and durable building products — includes natural stone, glass, brick at least 2.25-inches thick, sandstone, other native stone and pre-cast decorative stone.
Materials that could be used only as accents include split-faced brick, sealed and coated concrete masonry unit, decorative concrete block, hardy-board and pre-cast concrete panel.
The two types of material that would be prohibited in all uses are exterior insulation finishing systems and metal and vinyl lap board siding.
Trustee Jesal Patel suggested that some flexibility be added with the inclusion of an “other” option on the lists of acceptable materials.
“The same qualifiers used to determine the list of high-quality materials would be applied to the proposed material in the “other” category to determine if it could be used,” he said.
Rather than make a decision on the item, trustees sent it back to the Committee on Ordinances, Rules and Buildings for further discussion.
“If we could fine-tune this a little more, we might be able to start getting something in place,” Trustee Larry Elster said.