Arlington Heights Resident Speak out Against Church’s Parking Lot Plan

The Orchard Evangelical Free Church has not even approached the Arlington Heights village board for permission to build a new parking lot, but its neighbors are already speaking out against the idea.

Orchard's plan is “nonsensical,” said Paul Zurlow, a neighbor who has joined with other neighbors to form Hickory Meadow Community Group to voice opposition.

“There is absolutely no benefit to the residents,” he said, adding the parking lot will make a stunning difference to the neighborhood’s aesthetics and will change the character of the neighborhood.

Orchard had approached the village in November 2011 about building a parking lot on its property. It has not submitted any new plans to the village.

However, the church has started taking steps indicating it will move forward with its plan.

The church owns eight homes on N. Douglas Avenue, which it plans to demolish for the parking lot. According to neighbors, the families living in those homes have been asked to move.

Some 100 trees on the property have already been tagged which means they will be cut down, neighbors said. Church officials have contacted the Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) to mark underground utilities, village officials said.

It also has unveiled a blueprint of the parking lot at recent services, neighbor Pat Dennehey said, adding she feels like the plans are a “done deal.”

“How can all this take place before plans have been submitted or approved,” Dennehey said Monday at a village meeting.

Off-street parking is currently neeed and utilized, so a parking lot is not needed, she said.

Arlington Heights has contacted the church to inform its leaders about the concerns residents have and the process it needs to follow for such a project, said Charles Witherington-Perkins, director of Planning and Development.  His department also reminded the church of the village’s tree preservation ordinance.

No representative from the church was present at Monday’s meeting.

Adam Eichorn, another neighbor, said he has tried to reach out to the church, but it has not scheduled a meeting with neighbors.

Hickory Meadow Community Group anticipates the church will be filing a plan with the village later this month and members said they will be following the issue.