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Politics & Government

Village, Ethnic Deli Reach Compromise in Zoning Dispute

Lemont drops opposition to deli's special use/unique use zoning, according to email obtained through Freedom of Information Act.

The arduous and often contentious journey of an ethnic delicatessen to be located on State Street in unincorporated Lemont has come to a happy conclusion.

The Cook County Board unanimously approved special use zoning for the deli and the village of Lemont dropped its objection after village officials reached an agreement with John Pikarski, the attorney representing the deli.

The agreement followed a number of conditions that the village extracted from the business. Those conditions were shared in an email written by Jim Brown, planning and economic development for the village of Lemont, to members of the Cook County Board.

The email was obtained by Patch through a Freedom of Information Act request.

"The village of Lemont drops its opposition to the special use as a unique use approval by Cook County provided that the following conditions are attached to such an approval," the email begins.

The conditions included: the installations of two street trees on State Street; paving with asphalt or concrete at the entrance and exit of the deli; moving the sidewalk four feet to the east so that the new location is immediately adjacent and back to back  to the curb; and the gutter shall be constructed to village of Lemont engineering standards.

The deli received special use zoning even though there are a number of ethnic delicatessens in the area. Jessey Neves, spokeswoman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle addressed the issue.

“It was filed with Building and Zoning as a special use/unique use because, though the property is zoned residential, it has been used throughout its history commercially, i.e. church and roller rink," Neves said.

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"It has been vacant and in disrepair for the past five years. The use of [special use designation] is completely appropriate in this instance.

"Changing the zoning to commercial would have required a map amendment, which in this case would have the appearance of spot zoning. It was approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals because the applicant had shown that his requested use conformed with the standards of the County Zoning Ordinance.

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"The county board has tabled this matter until the next board meeting—asking the applicant and the village to come to some compromise regarding issues in dispute.”

When this issue came up in front of the board in May, .

Liz Gorman, who represents Lemont, opposed the zoning—siding with the village. She was backed by commissioners Deborah Sims and Tim Schneider. Gorman changed her vote at the last minute when it looked like it would pass. By being on the winning side, Gorman was able to bring up the issue again.

At the next board meeting, a contentious vote was likely when Commissioner Pete Silvestri suggested the vote be deferred so that all parties could get together to compromise.

The compromise was then reached and detailed in an email from Brown to the board.

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