City Council Rejects Appeal Against Gorton Center Terrace Replacement
LAKE FOREST, IL — The Lake Forest City Council rejected an appeal from neighbors seeking to block a replacement terrace at the city-owned Gorton Center.
The Historic Preservation Commission had previously approved the project’s design. In response, a trio of neighbors asked the City Council to intervene, but aldermen voted unanimously Monday to deny the appeal.
One of the neighbors in the 300 block of East Deerpath Road, Chris Dreska, spoke ahead of the vote.
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“I don’t want to come home after a long work week and have to hear people outside loud banging music, the bass already shakes my house during the summertime,” Dreska said.
“Obviously, people want to have parties there, not a problem, but if you’re gonna huge terrace, you’re going to serve alcohol outside, I mean, come on, we all know what alcohol does to people,” he said. “It’s just gonna be a problem. People are going to smoke cigarettes outside, that door’s going to be open constantly and we’re just gonna hear music until midnight or whenever they shut the thing off.”
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Lana Winnett, another of the appealing neighbors, also opposed the terrace.
“Personally, I moved to Lake Forest for the peace, not to have to fight to have a structure within a few feet of my bedroom that’s going to cause a lot of noise and a lot of disruption to my life,” Winnett said. “That’s all I can say.”
The City Council in February approved an update to the special use permit for events at the Gorton Center, 400 Illinois Road.
“The Historic Preservation Commission heard testimony, they deliberated, discussed the 17 standards and ultimately voted 6-0 to a approve a certificate of appropriateness approving the replacement terrace,” Czerniak said Monday.
That recently approved special use permit declares the terrace is intended for passive, rather than active uses, and that the door must remain closed during rental events, according to Catherine Czerniak, the city’s community development director and commission’s designee against the appeal.
“The current terrace is deteriorating due to some drainage issues,” Czerniak said. “The replacement terrace would be preceded by some storm drainage improvements that would occur after the existing terraces demolished and before the new terrace is constructed.”
Ald. Nancy Novit, 1st Ward, said a terrace was appropriate and she was glad to have a special use permit in place.
“I heartened that we have a special use permit in place now, that there are parameters that have been set by the Zoning Board [of Appeals] and approved by City Council, for the neighbors to understand what the limits are and what Gorton can and cannot do,” Novit said.
“As a result of the terms of that special use permit, hopefully some of the concerns you have have faded,” she added. “And if Gorton isn’t doing what they’re separate, they’re not behaving the way they’re supposed to under the special use permit. Now we have a process by which to hold them accountable.”
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