Zoning Laws

5. Applicability of zoning laws Vantage is no precedent. Albion points to the recently constructed Vantage building and other nearby high-rise buildings under construction or approved, with the argument (to simplify slightly), “if they can build one, why can’t we?” Regrettably, the Village’s Project Review Team echoes this fallacious argument (see, e.g., Tables 1, 2, and 3 on p. 3). However, such justifications are explicitly forbidden by Village Zoning Ordinances:

• 3.9.1.G.4. Each planned development shall be presented and judged on its own merits. It shall not be sufficient to base justification for approval or denial of a development upon an already existing planned development except to the extent such development has been approved as part of a site plan.

This paragraph is clearly intended as a defense against exactly the kind of cascade of decisions that Debra McQueen described (p. 8, above): The more high rises there are, the more [developers will argue that it is appropriate] to build more. The logical result of such a cascade is the complete transformation of the character of an area, with each step easier than the last, without any responsible decision-making about whether such a transformation is preferable, viable, or in keeping with the wishes of the community.

Height is only one of the problems. Much attention has focused on the height of the Albion tower. That is indeed an important aspect of why the proposed development is inappropriate. However, it is by no means the only one. Indeed, the Albion application asks for release from five different zoning requirements.

At the same time that the Albion high-rise would be 2.5 times the allowable height, it would also be 6.63 times as dense as permitted, by number of residential units. A zoning-compliant building would allow 40 units, in place of the requested 265. The result would be a population density well above the level recommended in the Comprehensive Plan.

The application entails massive deviations from both the height and density requirements that represent well-established values for the appropriate and viable residential density in Downtown.