Thursday, November 8, 2012

Maryville: The Next Chapter Opens

A message from Ald. Cappleman's office:

"We will be having a meeting to view the Maryville proposal on Wednesday, November 14th (next Wednesday), at 7:00pm at the Clarendon Park community building [4501 N Clarendon].

Ald. Cappleman is looking forward to starting the public dialogue regarding this important project.

Everyone is welcome at this meeting, so please spread the word to interested neighbors."

As UU reported a couple weeks ago, JDL Developers have signed an agreement with the owners of the Maryville property to build there.  We look forward to a more open and transparent dialogue with them than residents have experienced with previous prospective developers.  This seems like a good start.

5 comments:

  1. Really looking forward to seeing the proposal!

    Any indication that the proposal will be published in advance of the meeting? Would be very helpful to the community to be able to review so as to ask informed questions during the valuable meeting time.

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  2. The 46th Ward guideline for development is that plans are sent out a week in advance of the Zoning & Development Committee meeting. This Nov. 14 meeting is for the general public and it will not be a formal meeting of the Zoning & Development Committee.

    The purpose of this meeting is only to obtain initial feedback for the developer. There will be no decision making at this event.

    If you get the chance, please review the Maryville Charrette Final Report that was done over the summer. This report provides the parameters for this particular development and your knowledge of this report will help you with making informed questions. It was done through the hard work of people attending public meetings to discuss what they wanted to see at this site, along with experts in urban planning. Go to www.james46.org and click the tab "Projects."

    In this section, there's also an explanation of the role of the Zoning & Development Committee and the way to make sure your voice is heard. Please feel free to drop by and see me any Saturday morning at the Ward Office should you have any questions.

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  3. Thank you so much for your post, Alderman! It's great about plans being sent out a week in advance of the Z&D Committee meeting, but it would help build trust in a way that didn't happen last time if JDL might consider giving the community even more time to consider the draft plans alongside them as they work, especially since public funding may be involved.

    I understand it's an informational and not a formal Z&D Committee meeting, but it's hard to give constructive feedback on any plan at first glance. People need time to adjust their thinking caps & some of us are hard-pressed to go to meetings much less write followup questions, etc. You know, too, how it can be when people feel reactive or aren't good at competing with more "vigorous" meeting attendees! I'd think it might be helpful for JDL, too, to have us formulate more constructive questions in advance of the public meeting rather than during or after it.

    I've been following the process all along so am up to speed on the charrette report. Appreciate the Saturday morning hours, of course!

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  4. As a new resident of Uptown, I am so pleased that something is happening with Maryville. The site is such an eye sore and I'll be relieved for whatever goes into that creepy looking spot! ANYTHING would be better than what's there now. Looking forward to seeing the proposal and some movement.
    Thanks!

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