Georgen v. Village of Mount Prospect

382 N.E.2d 523, 65 Ill. App. 3d 512, 22 Ill. Dec. 203, 1978 Ill. App. LEXIS 3517
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 18, 1978
Docket77-125
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 382 N.E.2d 523 (Georgen v. Village of Mount Prospect) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Georgen v. Village of Mount Prospect, 382 N.E.2d 523, 65 Ill. App. 3d 512, 22 Ill. Dec. 203, 1978 Ill. App. LEXIS 3517 (Ill. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE SIMON

delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal stems from a declaratory judgment action by the plaintiffs, Richard Georgen (Georgen), and Poppin Fresh Pies, Inc. (Poppin), alleging that single-family residential zoning applicable to a parcel of real estate consisting of four lots owned by Georgen in the Village of Mount Prospect (the Village) was unreasonable and void. The plaintiffs sought an order permitting Poppin, a restaurant chain which is the contract purchaser, to construct a 3,900-square-foot restaurant on part of the subject property, and to use the balance of the property generally for business purposes. The proposed restaurant site would cover two of the lots and a portion of a third; no specific use was proposed for the balance of the third lot and the fourth lot (the remaining portion of plaintiffs’ property). The village’s zoning board of appeals’ recommendation that the plaintiffs’ application for rezoning be denied was followed by the board of trustees. The plaintiffs then filed this action, which was contested by the village and an intervening defendant, the Wedgewood Terrace Homeowners Association (the Association), representing homeowners in the area surrounding the four lots.

After a full hearing in which the Association participated, the trial judge entered an order declaring that the Village’s zoning of the subject property for single-family residence use was invalid. The order permitted Poppin to build its proposed restaurant without interference by the Village, and allowed it to use the remaining portion of the plaintiffs’ property for any activity permitted under the Village business zoning classification.

The property in question is a rectangular parcel of approximately 81,400 square feet located on the east side of Rand Road at the northwest corner of its intersection with Wedgewood Lane. Rand Road is a four-lane divided State highway with a median running in a northwest direction; Wedgewood Lane is a local, blacktopped street running southwesterly. The parcel is part of a large triangular residential area (the Wedgewood triangular area) bounded by Rand Road on the south and west, Euclid Avenue — a four-lane road — on the north, and Elmhurst Road, a four-lane highway, on the east. The parcel has a frontage of 400 feet on Rand Road.

The Wedgewood triangular area consists entirely of property zoned for single-family residential use, except for a small parcel at the southeast corner where Rand and Elmhurst Roads intersect, and another small portion at the northwest comer, in Arlington Heights, where Euclid Avenue meets Rand Road. The parcel at the southeast comer is a retail and service district and has a furniture store, a fast-food restaurant and a gas station. The subject property is separated from this parcel by Wedgewood Lane and seven residential lots. The parcel at the northwest comer also has some small business uses; it is approximately 1,400 feet on Rand Road from the subject property. Wedgewood Lane is one of two principal roads in the Wedgewood triangular area and the only road running through it which exits on Rand Road. The Wedgewood triangular area has narrow macadam streets, no sidewalks and open-ditch drainage. It has about 90 single-family homes.

Two of Georgen’s lots are vacant, while the other two contain single-family homes constructed in the middle 1950’s. The homes are one story in height, with brick construction and detached garages. Immediately behind the subject property going away from Rand Road and along the north line of the subject property, as well as to the east of the subject property and across Wedgewood Lane to the south, are substantial single-family homes, many of them located on /2-acre parcels. To the northwest of Georgen’s property is a private residence fronting on Rand Road, where the owner and occupant sharpens and repairs lawn mowers by appointment only. Hé has no signs on his property advertising his lawn mower business.

Directly across from the subject property on the west side of Rand Road there is an automobile sales agency in an area zoned as a business retail and service district. A shopping center, miniature golf course and baseball-hitting range are directly southeast of the auto agency. The land northwest of the agency is zoned for single-family residential use. Randhurst, a major shopping center, commences on the east side of Elmhurst Road and is separated from the subject property by many single-family residences.

A Poppin restaurant has a full-service limited menu, is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and features pies, including take-home pies, soup, salads and sandwiches. It is a sit-down restaurant with a capacity of 136 to 138, employing waitresses and keyed into a commissary which guarantees daily delivery of food and pies. Seventy-five parking spaces were planned for the restaurant, 36 more than required by the Village ordinance. The proposed restaurant was to have two major access points to the parking area from Rand Road and one from Wedgewood Lane. Five restaurants which offer a short-order menu similar to a Poppin restaurant are located within 1/4 miles from the proposed site. However, the Poppin real estate manager testified that there were many differences between the existing restaurants in the area and a Poppin establishment.

One of the plaintiffs’ witnesses, a planning and zoning consultant, testified there was a need for a Poppin restaurant in the area. The owner of the lawn mower sharpening business referred to above also testified he felt a need for such a restaurant. A neighbor of the lawn mower sharpener testified she would like to have a new restaurant in the neighborhood, although she never has eaten at a Poppin restaurant. She did not think that such a restaurant would have any adverse effect on properties in the area. Three other homeowners who lived on the opposite side of Rand Road and two who lived on the same side as the subject property testified they would have no objection to the proposed restaurant. However, a large number of residents of the Wedgewood triangular area called as witnesses by the Village opposed the restaurant. In general, they feared that it would depreciate their property values and attract additional traffic through their streets presenting a safety hazard to the numerous children and adults who play, walk or ride bicycles along those streets. They added that there is no difficulty in finding adequate restaurants in the Mount Prospect-Arlington Heights area.

The plaintiffs’ expert witnesses supplied the following testimony. The highest and best use of the property would be for R-3 or B-4 commercial uses, including the specific proposal for a Poppin restaurant. One of the plaintiffs’ experts, a planning and zoning consultant, testified that it was not feasible to develop Georgen’s property for single-family homes. The plaintiffs’ real estate expert conceded, however, that there is a need in the area for single-family residences, that there is sufficient lot area for residences, and that although it would be difficult to market such residences, it could be done.

On the west side of Rand Road, opposite the subject parcel, the Village has zoned for commercial use property contiguous to single-family areas, and the plaintiffs’ experts expressed the opinion that both the business and residential uses have existed without a depreciatory effect.

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Bluebook (online)
382 N.E.2d 523, 65 Ill. App. 3d 512, 22 Ill. Dec. 203, 1978 Ill. App. LEXIS 3517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/georgen-v-village-of-mount-prospect-illappct-1978.