Wilmette Il Zoning/Construction question (Winnetka: real estate, house, neighborhood)

[NotinKSanymore]

How difficult is the zoning aproval process in WIlmette for a remodel...not a scrape new construction. What if the project included expanding an attached (or detached) garage from 2 to 3 spaces.

I lived in a historic neighborhood in Denver 10 years ago and it was very difficult to anything...eg needed three different approvals to replace windows.

what's it like here?

[3Series]

Just call the village or visit them and ask somone there. If the house doesn't have a special designation, then it shouldn't be hard get a permit to make the changes you want to do. Just make sure the FAR (Floor area ratio) and set backs are within code and you should be fine.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by 3Series

Just call the village or visit them and ask somone there. If the house doesn't have a special designation, then it shouldn't be hard get a permit to make the changes you want to do. Just make sure the FAR (Floor area ratio) and set backs are within code and you should be fine.

The process of submitting plans and such is not particularly difficult -- if anything the staff is kind of pleasant / helpful. That said, the FARs and set backs which often are "baked into" even the out of the ordinary oversized lot at rarely if ever varied from and not just "hard" but pretty much "set in stone". Thus if the home you are considering has a detached two car garage it is extremely unlikely that the zoning regulations will allow for you to cover more of the lot with an additional garage space, if the home has an attached garage and you would need to extend the garage into the front or side yard that is even less likely to be allowed. Attached garages that would extend into the backyard are pretty uncommon...

Folks in Wilmette and pretty much all the desirable surbubs in the region with any older homes take the zoning code very seriously. Variations are often reviewed by a Zoning Board of Appeals, Plan Commission and finally the elected trustees. As you can imagine each of these hurdles is fraught with difficulty. Fact is LOTS of homes are stuck with ONE car garages and many folks are fine with that...

These zoning requirements and NOT just for specially designated historic homes (of which there are a few) but cover every square inch of town -- the lot sizes in each area all carry different FARs and set back requirements. While the bigger lots do have more buildable area it may also be the case that these lots require wider / deeper setbacks. Fact is you can't even really go by what neighboring properties appear to have -- there have been developers that bought two or three homes, tore them down and then built one home on the assembled lot. Folks generally are not really thrilled with that and additional regulations have been enacted to make that more difficult...

Frankly even if a real estate agents says "that should be ok" I would recommend making offers "contingent upon re-zoning approval" BUT I will warn you that since the approval can be time consuming and futile most sellers would NOT accept an offer with such a contingency...

[Lookout Kid]

I'm not sure about Wilmette specifically, but I've heard of situations in other suburbs where a busy-body neighbor will try to get involved to stop garage expansion. The last incident I heard about involved a detached two-car garage behind a house being expanded to a three-car garage, and a neighbor intervened, complaining about an increase in impervious surface in the neighborhood. They ultimately got their three-car garage anyway, though.

I just want to add about four feet to my very tight detached two car garage (teardown, rebuild), so I will soon be going through this process myself. I'm dreading it, but for the most part experienced contractors will handle the heavy lifting for you in terms of getting village approvals. But it's always good to talk to your neighbors about your plans to make sure none of them have a problem with it before you get too far along in the process.

[gelert]

My experience on the north shore (Winnetka) is that it's harder than we had expected. We didn't change the garage but had an addition. There were 7 people who need to review the plans: zoning, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, forestry, energy, engineering (including calculations about changes in impermeable surfaces / drainage). Ours took 3 months to approve - a lot of minor revisions. And we had to change our original plan because of a setback issue.

[NotinKSanymore]

Thanks a ton, I just read- skimmed- the new Wilmette zoning regs, adding another spot to a grage would be almost impossible based on a quick read.

[chet everett]

I pretty much agree it is going to be a challenge to find a home that would already have a two car garage that could be expanded to three. The thing too is that I know that they do have a process to get variations for things that are considered "enhancements" that includes certain things like porches, gazebos, covered walkways but folks sort of intentionally stacked things against garages...

Honestly from an aesthetic standpoint I can't say I disagree. Of course from a practical perspestive if you have nice bicycles for the whole family and bigger sporting gear like lacross or hockey to store and you might not have room in a regular two car garage for even one Prius...

[chrissyb52]

You should call the village and ask to speak with someone in zoning and they could give you more details and the possibilities as well as FAR regs and setbacks for any parcel you were thinking of. I did an addition and had to ask for several varriences for side setbacks, and other than time, it was not a big deal.

As someone who has done an extensive renovation in the past couple of years, I can speak to the process.

When you ask for a varrience, you submit to the town your request. You must notify your immediate neighbors in writing with specific paperwork, and then a wider range with some other paperwork - basically notifying them of your quest, and which board meeting you will be presenting at. You then present before the board. I actually did not attend my presentation, just my architect. The town is reasonable and is committed to preserving the historic character and therefore understand that issues can some up when dealing with old homes. They don't want people to be stymed, or to tear down to have an easier go of it. When there is more construction going on in town, it can take several months for plans to be finalized, it will all depend on their work load. It is easier when you do the bulk of your projects in one swoop. The town is a little accessive in what they require a permit for, and that was my biggest complaint. I found their process to be no more complex than many other towns I have rennovated in, and less restrictive historically than other places I have lived.

In new construction now, you must have a two car garage, which has caused some challenges for people trying to re-develop smaller parcels.

Our neighbors a couple lots down on the corner just got a varrience to convert their attached one car garage to a two car. They are on a small lot - standard width, not full depth. Their yard is now even tinier. The neighbor across the street from us converted the attached garage to living space and put a new two car garage.

Each situation will be different, but check with the town, expanding your garage is not impossible if you have the space, It might just require a varrience/approval. I have noticed the people that are not successful are either asking for something unreasonable (You're building a gigantic garage to run an auto body business out of it) or perhaps just difficult. I do imagine as well there can be challenging neighbors, but I have not come across that personally. My three neighbors across the alley all have 3 car garages. We are on 50 x 210's, which are bigger lots.

Hope that helps

[3Series]

Originally Posted by gelert

My experience on the north shore (Winnetka) is that it's harder than we had expected. We didn't change the garage but had an addition. There were 7 people who need to review the plans: zoning, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, forestry, energy, engineering (including calculations about changes in impermeable surfaces / drainage). Ours took 3 months to approve - a lot of minor revisions. And we had to change our original plan because of a setback issue.

3 months is pretty standard to me.

In older established areas with large trees, forestry can be a pain with hefty liablities if you kill a tree becuase you didnt' properly plan. I tend to agree though becuase its the only thing you can't replace (old trees) if somone F's up.