The DuPage County Board on Tuesday, Aug. 25, approved a conditional use permit allowing an accessory dwelling unit in unincorporated Downers Grove while denying First Baptist Church's request to subdivide property near its campus for a new home lot, according to the county's meeting agenda.
Both properties sit in County Board District 3.
ADU gets green light after procedural restart
Axiom Home Investments, LLC won approval to convert an existing detached garage into living space on a property southeast of Lemont Road and Davey Road. The board also granted a conditional use allowing the existing building to remain roughly 9.22 feet from the interior side property line, where the required distance is 10 feet. The structure has stood in that location for at least five years.
The case had a bumpy path. The county's Development Committee, chaired by board member Sam Tornatore, remanded it back to the Zoning Board of Appeals in May after discovering the original hearing gave no opportunity for public comment. After a fresh hearing, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 6-0 to approve, and the Development Committee followed with its own 6-0 recommendation on Aug. 18.
Sanjiv Akhand of Axiom Home Investments spoke at the May 19 committee meeting in support of the project.
Church lot split rejected
First Baptist Church sought two variations: shrinking a proposed lot from the required 40,000 square feet to about 23,230 square feet, and reducing the interior side setback for its existing assembly building from 40 feet to roughly 6.11 feet. The church wanted to carve off a "flag lot" behind neighboring homes, accessed by a narrow strip of church-owned land, and sell it for residential construction.
Paul Hoss, the county's planning and zoning administration coordinator, told the Development Committee on Aug. 18 that "the neighbors are against this petition" and that "the Zoning Hearing Officer recommended to deny, due the hardship being financial and not land based."
Tornatore's committee voted 0-5 against the church's request. Because the Zoning Hearing Officer had recommended denial, approval at the full board would have required a three-quarters supermajority of 14 votes.
Other actions
The board approved a $25,000 budget transfer to buy gun safes for county residents, to be distributed at a Safety Saturday event on Saturday, Oct. 3. The county also accepted an $898,720 transit grant from the Northern Illinois Transit Authority and a $459,705 Adult Redeploy Illinois grant for probation and court services.
Separately, the board approved a setback conditional use for an existing shed on the Anitei property in unincorporated Downers Grove, allowing it to remain about 5.3 feet from the side lot line instead of the required 10 feet.
Full roll-call votes from the Aug. 25 meeting have not yet been published. Residents can view agendas, ordinances and meeting materials through the county's online legislative portal.
