Zoning panel backs Ida Crown Skokie move

Reported in the Pioneer Local: Dec. 18, 2009

Ida Crown Jewish Academy's request that industrial property on the east end of Skokie be rezoned so it can move its Chicago high school there received Plan Commission support Thursday during a packed public hearing at Village Hall.

In a rare occurrence, the Plan Commission's 6-2 vote countered the recommendation of Village Staff, which strongly argued against the rezoning request saying that it would shrink the village's valuable industrial base.

"The village has been very protective of its industrial areas that provide high paying jobs and provide a strong tax base for schools, the village and other taxing bodies," said Community Development Director Peter Peyer.

Ida Crown, which wants to move into the vacant site at 8255 Central Park Ave., the former home of Rand McNally, presented an impassioned case for the zoning change. The 200-person audience was on the side of the school.

"The high school is an appropriate use for the north half of the site," countered Crown attorney Hal Francke.

The private Jewish school wants to eventually develop the south end of the property, preferably with residential town houses, which school officials say would recoup some or all of the revenue that would be lost by building its tax-exempt school.

The Village Board will have the final say early next year when it will have to consider different recommendations from Village Staff and the Plan Commission.

Under Ida Crown's proposal, the school would be built on just over half of the 13.53 acres of Rand McNally property located at the edge of the industrial zone. Skokie School District 73.5's Middleton School and residential properties are located near the site.

Zoned M-2 and M-3 (light manufacturing and manufacturing), the site would be rezoned R-3 under the Ida Crown proposal, clearing the way for both the development of the school and eventually the town houses.

The proposal calls for transforming an L-shaped two-story building on the site into a modern school with 26 classrooms, four science labs, a library and a cafeteria. Ida Crown would tear down an existing one-story building and replace it with a new 40,000 square-foot structure that would hold a gym, music and art studios, a religious studies center and administrative offices.

Two strikingly different perspectives of this plan emerged Thursday when village staff and the school made presentations to the panel.

Peyer asserted that the vacant property still has the potential for lucrative industrial use while the Ida Crown team argued that industry is shrinking and on the way out.

Peyer said that when Rand McNally put the property up for sale, "at least three potential industrial users/developers were interested." CenterPoint Properties, the largest owner of industrial properties in the Chicago area, offered between $7 million and $9 million for the property, Peyer said, before it was sold to Ida Crown for about $11 million.

"CenterPoint is still interested in the use of the property," Peyer said. "It has offered a trade of property it holds elsewhere in the area. The offer was not accepted."

Ida Crown officials, including a land use expert, say that the property is likely to remain vacant if the village waits for an industrial developer to buy it.

The proposed project runs up against Skokie's comprehensive plan, Village Staff say. Even Village Manager Al Rigoni took the rare step of opposing the Ida Crown plan in a memo he wrote late last month.

Rigoni called the property "a prime site for development and employment consistent with light industry standards." The lack of development on the south end of the site, he wrote, places the village in jeopardy from a zoning, land use and traffic perspective.

"Even in the current economy, the overall vacancy rate is low for buildings in the industrial areas in the east portion of the village where the subject site is located," Peyer said.

Ida Crown countered by displaying photos of numerous industrial vacancies in the area supported by a real estate expert's testimony about the difficulty in finding developers for these properties.

Allen Kracower, a land use expert hired by Ida Crown, said the property represents only 4 percent of the village's entire manufacturing and industrial base. It sits on the edge of the zone, he said, which means that the project would not constitute "spot zoning."

Kracower maintained that the new school and residences would serve as a much better buffer for Middleton and residential neighbors.

"Why would you take a factory and place it next to a school?" Kracower asked. "It makes no sense. It's not even logical."

The new school would have fewer than 300 students -- about half the enrollment of Middleton and much less than Skokie's Niles West and Niles North High Schools, he said.

The project also calls for enhanced green space and an athletic field, Ida Crown officials said. A school and bus transportation facility, a laundry facility, a light chemical and plastics factory and a trade school could occupy the site as a permitted use or with a special use permit under current zoning, they noted.

Skokie School District 73.5 has not taken a formal position on the project.

The district is already challenged by a small commercial tax base, which reduces the amount of tax revenue it generates compared to other Skokie school districts. The Ida Crown project would replace former industrial property with a tax-exempt school and possibly new residences, which are taxed at a lower level than industrial property.

"There's absolutely no question about the quality of their high school plan and the passion that they have for it," School Board President Jim McNelis said. He called the proposal "attractive" and said that it could spur residential development and economic activity in the area.

"But we realize there are other impacts we must also face," McNelis said, including the potential for a greater tax burden on District 73.5 residents and the unknown future of the southern half of the property.

Ida Crown has reached out to District 73.5 in several meetings and has also met with residential and industrial neighbors.

Founded in 1942, the school moved in 1966 to its current Pratt Avenue location in Chicago. Enrollment fluctuates between 280 and 320 students, Dean Leonard Matanky said. Smaller class sizes and other advancements in education have resulted in the need for a larger site, he said.

More than half the students who attend Ida Crown live in the Skokie area, which made Skokie the school's first choice for a new home, Matanky said.

Plan commissioners raised the possibility of splitting the property zoning and keeping the southern half industrial for the time being. Peyer said Village Staff opposes any zoning change on the property. School attorney Francke said that rezoning the property R-3 is the best choice, but Ida Crown would consider a subdivision if the village recommended it.

Plan Commissioners recommended 6-2 to support Ida Crown's request but added a provision that the southern half of the property could not be developed as tax-exempt.

"As I drive and walk down Central Park Avenue, I consider it a residential district," said Commissioner Mort Paradise who supported the project.

Commissioner George Mitchell and Plan Commission Chairman Paul Luke voted against rezoning the property.

Luke said he would rather maintain industrial zoning for the property and then issue a special use permit if the school moves forward. He believes the village would have more control over property use that way.