Animal hospital site to be residential

The former site of Hinsdale Animal Hospital is poised to be subdivided into two separate lots to accommodate single-family homes.

At Tuesday’s Hinsdale Village Board meeting, trustees held a first reading of an ordinance approving a site plan and exterior appearance plan for 218 W. Ogden Ave., as well as a request to accept a tentative and final plat to subdivide the property.

In reviewing the proposed ordinance from property owner KAL Development, Trustee Luke Stifflear said the two resulting lots would be of roughly equal size, about 23,000 square feet, and meet village zoning code requirements.

“It’s surrounded by the R-4 single-family residential district on all four sides,” Stifflear reported. “One lot would have ingress and egress off of Grant Street, and the second off of Vine Street. All access off of Ogden would be closed off.”

Last month the plan commission voted 7-0 in favor of approving the ordinance, expressing support for the code-compliant plan that will match the surrounding single-family residential neighborhood.

Shortly after Hinsdale Animal Hospital moved into its new facility at 724 N. York Road about four years ago, the village was approached about allowing more dense development on the site. Village President Tom Cauley said that would have been out of character for the area.

“I think it’s a good idea to have, instead of four non-compliant lots, two code-compliant lots,” Cauley said. “This will continue to be single-family residential zoning.”

The old hospital building was razed and the site is vacant.

Stifflear said the village has not received construction plans at this point.

“Currently there are no development plans for new homes or buildings on the lots,” he said, and reiterated the board’s sentiment. “This is exactly what we want to happen at this site.”

Once a building permit application is received, according to a memo from village planner Bethany Salmon, the developer will need to verify code compliance at that time, which includes submitting exact calculations for floor area ratio, lot coverage, building height and building elevation. Those will all need to meet village code requirements or the developer will need to request a variance.

The board is expected to hold a second reading and take action on the ordinance at its March 21 meeting.

Author Bio

Ken Knutson is associate editor of The Hinsdalean