2023-05-30 21:23:31 -0400
To: Village of Oak Park Plan Commission and Board of Trustees
Stop Rush Oak Park Hospital from Towering Over Our Homes
In recent years, Rush Oak Park Hospital has bought and bulldozed homes on Maple, Wenonah, and Wisconsin avenues, making way for asphalt parking lots and a five-story medical office building. To help protect our neighborhood from the negative impacts of future hospital development, we, the Center West Oak Park Neighborhood Association (CWOPNA), submitted an application proposing two much-needed changes to Oak Park’s Zoning Ordinance.
1. Make sure that Rush Oak Park Hospital has the same 50 foot height limit as currently applies to the residential areas near West Suburban Hospital district. Currently Rush Oak Park Hospital is free to build as high as 125 feet along the southwest border (Monroe & Maple & Wisconsin) of the neighborhood and up to 80 feet to the southeast border (Monroe & Wenonah) of the neighborhood.
2. Increase the required setbacks in the Rush Oak Park Hospital district, thus providing more of a buffer between any new hospital building and the neighborhood which does not currently exist.
1. Make sure that Rush Oak Park Hospital has the same 50 foot height limit as currently applies to the residential areas near West Suburban Hospital district. Currently Rush Oak Park Hospital is free to build as high as 125 feet along the southwest border (Monroe & Maple & Wisconsin) of the neighborhood and up to 80 feet to the southeast border (Monroe & Wenonah) of the neighborhood.
2. Increase the required setbacks in the Rush Oak Park Hospital district, thus providing more of a buffer between any new hospital building and the neighborhood which does not currently exist.
Why is this important?
To be fair to the neighborhood near Rush Oak Park Hospital, the Village Board should vote to amend Article 6.3 of the Zoning Ordinance to be consistent with the current maximum height of 50 feet near residences in the West Suburban Hospital neighborhood. Without the Village Board's approval, Rush Oak Park Hospital is free to build as high as 125 feet along the southwest border (Monroe & Maple & Wisconsin) of the neighborhood and up to 80 feet to the southeast border (Monroe & Wenonah) of the neighborhood.
How it will be delivered
We will deliver this petition to the Plan Commission meeting on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 7pm at Village Hall 123 Madison and then to the Village Board of Trustees meeting that will soon follow.