It Takes A Village…Of Arlington Heights

Part of our design process entailed seeking approval and relevant permitting from our town. While some parts of the process were simply handled by our architect liaising with the Arlington Heights planning department, Mike and I did have to appear in front of our village’s Design Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.

We had to secure the approval of the Arlington Heights Design Commission, comprised of leaders and experts in the property development industry (e.g. architects, landscape architects, developers, etc.) to ensure the overall design of the house fits into the town appropriately and supports the village’s commitment to “high quality architecture and aesthetics.” Fortunately, as community is a foundational pillar of our philosophy, we had been intentional with the support of our architect to ensure the whole design of our renovated home was in keeping with our street. While our split-level will be completely modernized when this project is done, our architect ensured that the new elevations, the overall look and feel of the exterior, and our plans for the yard all would support and enhance the historic charm of the Drury Lane. So we felt fairly confident appearing in front of the Design Commission seeking approval in the fall of 2019.

Gaining approval for the front porch was a bit of a different story. Our plans for the porch meant that we would be extending our structure into the frontyard beyond the average setback of the homes on our street. So we would need to get approval for this exception from our Zoning Board of Appeals, a group of citizens like you and me, listening to other citizens about making the case for a variance. In the case of Arlington Heights, they characterize any variance as needing to address a “hardship.” Depending on how you interpret that word, Mike and I both wondered - how do you make the case that a front porch addresses a “hardship”? So we both felt some anxiety about seeking support for the final porch design we were feeling very tied to and a bit worried that we may hear “no” about. And if we heard a “no,” we would be looking at a year’s timeframe before we could go in front of the ZBA again to request variance. So we needed to make sure our case was clear!

While approval processes are typically not a favorite activity of most people related to any project, Mike and I gained great learning from preparing for and participating in these two forums at Village Hall, and actually found these processes very valuable to our whole project.

In our 13-minute conversation, we share the highlights and challenges of our approvals process experience as well as some things that are good for anyone seeking town approval to think about:

• See the process as adding value to your project

• Involve your neighbors

• Know your audience

• Do your homework

• Tell your story