By:Beth Wallach
Matt DeGiaimo, of MSD & Associates, is the architect who designed the Arbor Inn Homes, which are being built on the site formerly occupied by the Arbor Inn Restaurant. Buyers of the seven Tudor-style homes, on a cul-de-sac, will have two design options, but the architect assured board members that each home will have variations in the brick, stucco and stone, giving them more individualized character. In order to avoid a parking lot look, DeGiaimo said driveways would not be built next to one another, and added that a landscape fence, also called a living fence, would be built.
While the four-bedroom homes are expected to sell in the $850,000 range, the price may escalate depending on the options a buyer chooses. They include central vacuum systems, master-bedroom fireplaces, and fifth bedrooms and additional full bathrooms on the second floor.
After the architect showed overhead projections and material samples to the board, each home was voted on separately. Trustee Mary Bossart, who, in the briefing session held earlier in the evening, expressed reservations about building Tudor-style homes in a part of the village comprising mostly Victorians, voted in favor of the homes, as did the other board members. Trustee Greg Rinn thought it was important for those who attended the meeting to know that approval of the homes followed in-depth discussions, and was not granted lightly.
Villa Pointe, a development of one colonial home and one Victorian being proposed on Lakeview, met with considerably more opposition. Several neighbors protested the building of the homes, expected to sell in the neighborhood of $900,000. After an exterior site-plan review, the architect for that project made several changes, mostly to the colonial.
Trustee Wayne Lipton was happy to see two different houses with impressive detail, but neighbors were concerned with the size and price of the homes compared with other houses in the vicinity. At 3,200 square feet for the colonial and 3,000 square feet for the Victorian, Lipton said, They-re not massive they-re a comfortable size for the village. Neighbors such as Bob Meindl, who lives next door to the proposed homes, took a different view, saying that the average size of homes on Lakeview is 1,900 square feet. He was also concerned that the proposed homes would block out the sun in surrounding homes, and that the central air-conditioning units would be noisy.
Said Ken Metzger, who lives on North Forest Avenue, I-m concerned with the changing nature of the community, if existing homes are sold and knocked down and $1 million homes keep going up. Metzger also expressed his concern that the trees on the property would be removed. Tom Martello, a partner with Villa Pointe, said he would do everything he could to make sure the trees stay, as long as they-re healthy.
Randy Slade, a longtime North Forest resident, was upset that her taxes might rise as a result of the two homes being built. While Lipton said her taxes shouldn-t change because of this, a popular village encourages building, and that there-s a double-edged sword to success. The neighbors appeared disappointed but resigned to the board-s approval of the homes, because the proposal complies with all of village-s
code requirements.
After the vote on Villa Pointe, a public hearing was held, in which the board adopted a series of amendments dealing with site plan and subdivision review. At the recommendation of village attorney Martha Krisel, it was decided that the public hearing would be continued at the Dec. 13 Board of Trustees meeting.
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