After developers revived their idea to build a three-story, 12-unit condominium complex at 8845 Burlington Ave. that had sputtered out earlier this year, Brookfield has given approval to a final plan for the building with a rooftop deck and enclosed parking.
At its Sept. 9 meeting, Brookfield’s village board unanimously voted to approve five variations from the village’s zoning code for the plan for the condominium complex known as “The Canopy.” Though the ordinance trustees approved does not give an exact timeline for the project, it gives the developers two years to build the complex, and Brookfield is able to grant them an extra year if they need it.
According to the approved plans, the building will have a rooftop deck, accessible from the second floor, in the rear of the building above a closed parking garage with 14 parking spots. The developers are allowed to build the complex with the approved variations from the code, which include three-foot gaps from the building to the edge of the road it fronts rather than five- and 10-foot gaps at different points.
The other approved variations involve reducing how far the building is set back from the property line, from five feet all around to just three feet for the main building and zero feet for the garage, as well as shrinking the width of the garage’s drive aisle from the required 22 feet and six inches to just 11 feet and three inches.
In November, when trustees approved a preliminary site plan for the development, construction for the project was estimated to end by fall 2025, though with a spring 2024 start date. At that time, the project’s developer said it would cost about $3.2 million in total.
According to agenda documents from Brookfield’s Aug. 26 committee of the whole meeting, the complex’s developers are Peter Haleas of Hinsdale and John Fairclough of Romeoville, who manage Three Green Vegetables, LLC, the firm that owns the property. After trustees approved the preliminary site plan, Haleas applied for approval of the final plan in January; later that month, Brookfield’s planning and zoning commission voted to recommend the final plan with four outstanding changes that would need to be made before the plan could go before the village board at a committee of the whole meeting.
In April, after Haleas didn’t make the needed changes, the application “was withdrawn by default,” but the same week, Fairclough reached out to staff to bring forth a new final plan that made its way through the planning and zoning commission before being approved by trustees Monday evening.
At that August meeting, Brookfield trustees discussed the final plan for the complex. Trustee Jennifer Hendricks, who is a professional landscape architect, said she thought the developers’ landscape plan was “lacking,” as tree species that are sensitive to salt were planned for the parkway despite notes in the plan suggesting otherwise.
“I’d like to see [the landscape plan] cleaned up before it comes back to us. It is essentially the initial landscape plan with a revision cloud that says plants have to be salt tolerant,” she said. With the trees “right next to that sidewalk there, I’m afraid that the petitioner, that the owner of this building is going to end up with a whole row of dead evergreens.”
Village Planner Kate Portillo, who presented the plan to the board, said that she had discussed the same point with a village arborist, who suggested Brookfield could enforce its property maintenance ordinance if plants on the private parcel die. Hendricks later said she would let village staff and the developers work the issue out before it would return to the board, as it did Monday.
Trustee Kit Ketchmark asked about the reduced width of the garage drive aisle and whether village staff were “confident” drivers would be able to turn from the back alleyway into the garage entrance and again from the entrance into their parking spot due to the aisle being only half the size village code usually dictates.
“There has been no evidence that [the turn] can’t be made. It may need to be made with caution,” Portillo said. “If you are looking to park your pickup truck in there, it may not be the right residential parking for you.”
