special report
Changing face of our neighborhoods
Dozens of new homes have been built in La Grange in recent years. It is evidence, say those in the real estate and building professions, that the village is an attractive community in which to live and raise a family—and a smart location in which to make what is for most homeowners their single biggest investment.
Building this new home on Madison Ave involved tearing down an existing house on the site. Move your cursor over the photo to see that house, then click to view a gallery of similar "before and after" photos.
Some vocal residents, however, do not welcome the newest housing boom. They say the sheer size and bulk of many new houses is more than what should be allowed on the 50-foot lots that front a majority of the Village's tree-shaded residential streets.
Village officials say they have heard residents' pleas for more restrictions on size and bulk. In response, they undertook a two-year study of its zoning code for single-family residential districts that resulted in several proposed amendments to the code that are now before the Board of Trustees.
Not surprising, many local home builders and real estate brokers attended public hearings to oppose the restrictions. They say that while home buyers are attracted to La Grange's traditional neighborhood settings, they also seek amenities—such as vaulted ceilings, master bedroom suites and oversized front-loading garages— typically found only in newer homes. Because La Grange has little vacant land left for development, most new houses must be built on lots from which older homes have been removed. A house is a candidate for removal when the value of its land as a building site exceeds its value as a dwelling. Such houses are commonly called teardowns.
A lawn sign distributed by Citizens United for Responsible Building (CURB) proclaims the group's opposition to super-sized houses.
Residents seem less opposed to teardowns than to the McMansions that often replace them. Typically larger and bulkier than the older homes around them, the super-sized appearance of these new homes, say critics, is destroying the very character that makes La Grange a desirable place to live. Some also believe that the proposed zoning restrictions don't go far enough.
Village officials say they can really only regulate those things that can be measured, such as height, coverage and setbacks. Good taste, they say, cannot be legislated.
You can view the homes at the center of this controversy by perusing our photo gallery, New Homes Rise on Teardown Sites.