Ald. Brian Hopkins and EVA president Michael VanDam discuss landmark buildings at the Happy Village patio. Ald. Hopkins asked EVA to find threatened structures that should be preserved, and gave details on his attempt to shore up the landmark ordinance. East Village Association membership meeting Oct. 2, 2017 Happy Village, 1059 N. Wolcott Ave. Ald. Brian Hopkins hopes to discourage neglect of landmark buildings. East Village Association members Monday gave him feedback on his plan to add teeth to the city's landmark ordinance. In calling the meeting at Happy Village to order, president Michael VanDam said member Rich Anselmo had proposed an EVA committee to monitor and prevent teardowns. In discussing the issue, 2nd Ward staff brought up Hopkins' draft ordinance , now in the city's Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards committee. A damaged Logan Square landmark spurred Hopkins to action. The owner proposed that the structure was beyond saving and should be raz...

Craft brewer Forbidden Root tapped a rich seam last year. EVA backed its plans for a brewery and tap room, now headed toward a May opening. Curious readers came to the East Village Association website for months preceding a May community vote to allow a tavern license and commercial rezoning at 1746 W. Chicago Ave. Half the 10 most-viewed pages on the site were devoted to the issue. Two longtime development issues were also in the top 10: apartment plans for the onetime AAA Distributing warehouse at 1850 W. Chicago, and a bid to lure a Trader Joe's grocery to the former Miller Lumber site at 1815 W. Division St. A site refresh added popular topic pages on EVA, its development review process and a community resource list. Here are EVA's top 10 pages from 2014: Chicago Avenue zoning crafts a better community Planning, Preservation & Development About EVA Shopping for solution to Trader Joe's traffic Forbidden Root alternatives brewing EVA seeks Fifield a...

East Village Association board minutes for Dec. 1, 2014, submitted by Catherine Garypie 2ND WARD CANDIDATES: BRIAN HOPKINS Hopkins spent 16 years working as part of Streeterville neighborhood groups, and had a lot of experience with developers in those groups. Originally from McKinley Park, he worked as chief of staff for Cook County Commissioner John Daley. Campaigning since July, Hopkins said he's concerned about community confusion over the 2nd Ward boundaries. Your position on aldermen accepting campaign contributions when they have matters pending before them? Ethical rules prohibit it when you accept contributions when there are matters pending before the City Council. I am ethical and will be ethical. Ethics and laws are pretty different. Laws are clear. Ethical guidelines are grey. Your conscience will tell you when you are acting ethically. I would not accept any contributions from persons or entities having matters pending before City Council, zoning committees,...

East Village Association minutes for May 5, 2014 Submitted by Catherine Garypie WELLSAPOLOOZA (Susan Nusbaum, Wells HS) The Wells ball field will provide space for baseball, softball, women’s softball, little league and soccer. $1.6 million is the cost. The school's working with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation on funding, and with Ald. Proco Moreno and Rep. Cynthia Soto. A fundraiser is 4:30-8:30pm Friday, May 16, with 6 bands and a taste of Wells. Admission is free, but you pay for food & there will be a silent auction. Principal Rituparna Raichoudhuri and former principal Ernesto Matias will be at donation table. FORBIDDEN ROOT PRESENTATION (Rolando Acosta) Forbidden Root would be the first Botanical Brewery in the world. The location on Chicago Avenue will hold the headquarters, R&D, some production, taproom, some package sales and offices. Production would be limited to 9,000 barrels a year. Main production and mass bottling will be offsite. The taproom will be ...

East Village Association members vote Monday night on two high-profile Chicago Avenue developments. Ald. Proco Joe Moreno often seeks input from community groups on zoning, land use and licensing issues; these votes advise him. (While the City Council's making the decision, nearly always it follows the home alderman's recommendation.) At 7pm in Happy Village, 1049 N. Wolcott Ave, the meeting starts with a progress report on the Field of Hope ballpark plan for Wells Community Academy High School. A $2.5 million fundraising drive continues with a May 16 fundraiser at the school, 936 N Ashland Ave.

Forbidden Root brewery site, 1746 W. Chicago Ave. President's Message By Neal McKnight The East Village Association will vote Monday on a proposal that would allow the Forbidden Root brewery to locate and operate in East Village. A vote to allow the brewpub would change a position EVA has supported since 1992: to maintain liquor moratoria on parts of Division Street and Damen and Chicago avenues. The board’s decision to schedule a vote was not made lightly and was made only after a great deal of thought and deliberation. Neither the board nor its Planning, Preservation & Development committee is recommending how members should vote. The decision was made as a result of unique set of circumstances. A significant number of our members and others in the community expressed a desire to reconsider the liquor moratorium to allow the Forbidden Root brewery to locate on Chicago Avenue. And despite a written commitment by Ald. Proco Joe Moreno to not lift any liquor moratorium...

East Village Association members will vote Monday on whether to support zoning and licensing changes for the Forbidden Root brewery to operate at 1742-50 W. Chicago Ave. Rootmaster Robert Finkel and brewer Robert (BJ) Pichman describe their proposal. Forbidden Root will be the first botanical brewery in the country, crafting its brew around all natural herbs, roots and spices. It would like to open its headquarters, brewery and tap room in the long vacant former Hub Theater at 1746 W. Chicago Ave. As a “Benefit” corporation, it intends to donate all of its profits from non-consumable merchandise to worthy not-for-profit causes, initially the Green City Market. Forbidden Root proposes locating its brewery and R&D operations in the rear of the building. The capacity of the on-site brewery will be limited and larger-scale brewing and bottling will occur at a remote location. The front portion of the building will be refurbished to provide an inviting tap room where customer...

East Village Association board meeting minutes, April 14, 2014 Submitted by Catherine Garypie Fifield project, 1822-50 W. Chicago Ave. Ald. Proco Joe Moreno stated that the Fifield Cos. can build 39 units as of right, but the new plan is to upzone for 59 units. The Fifield position is: We can do more bedrooms at the higher zoning but we’re not, and we can do a higher floor-area ratio but we’re not. Fifield does not feel it can build a connection to Commercial Park as requested at the last EVA board meeting. Fifield wants to build a larger building than allowed, so the law requires on-site affordable units on-site or a donation to the Chicago Low-Income Housing Affordable Trust Fund. Fifield wants to make a donation to the fund. The city has determined that legally this donation cannot be a space donation to a nonprofit, as EVA has discussed . Moreno expressed a general concern with developers donating to the fund instead of providing affordable housing, absence extreme circumsta...

Membership meeting minutes, April 7, 2014 Submitted by Catherine Garypie Ashland BRT The CTA's Ashland Bus Rapid Transit proposal would cut Ashland Avenue traffic lanes from four to two, to dedicate the interior two lanes to express buses. The plan keeps two parking lanes, and eliminate left turns from Ashland except at highway access points. Details are at transitchicago.com/ashlandbrt . Primary benefits of Ashland BRT are: Decreasing travel time (decrease of about 8 minutes from 35th to Irving Park) and increasing reliability for the large number of public transit users on Ashland. Supporting businesses along Ashland Avenue. Connecting rail and other bus lines. EVA has not taken a position to date, although it has provided information regarding process in prior meetings. EVA has heard presentations from the CTA, the Active Transportation Alliance and the Ashland-Western Coalition. Nearby neighborhood groups have taken positions. The Environmental Assessment for the A...

East Village Association board meeting minutes, March 10, 2014 Submitted by Catherine Garypie Fifield Cos., 1822-50 W. Chicago Ave. Steven Fifield made a presentation to the board on his current development plan. He's seeking a "no objection letter" for his zoning package, and wants to go before the full EVA membership April 7. Details include the following: Rental only, not condo. 4 stories, frame construction, parking behind building. Floor 1 is commercial, floors 2-4 residential. 59 units: 40% studios & 1-bedroom, 60% 2- and 3 bedroom. Likely 1st floor commercial tenants are: daycare to the west, restaurant to the east. 2 shallow storefronts not yet filled. Flexible on how to direct traffic to parking. Suspects that Zoning Commission will not require 1:1 parking because of the number of studios & 1-bedrooms. 5-6 ft of green wall between the building and the park. May replace sidewalk & alley surface depending upon condition. Leasing agent ...

Epic Spices, 1725 W. Chicago Ave. East Village Association membership meeting minutes, March 3, 2014 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Business Minute: Epic Spices, 1725 W. Chicago Ave. Owner Steven Tobiason lives in the neighborhood and has formal culinary training. He trained in the spice industry for 14 years and can duplicate spice from taste. He acquires products from all over the world and processes them in house, giving his customers maximum freshness. Since there are so few people involved in the process, he is able to keep prices surprisingly low. Tobiason also provides spices for many high-end restaurants in the area, such as Girl & the Goat and Nico Osteria. The store is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 7pm, and Tobiason welcomes neighbors to stop in and chat. Members attending the meeting touted the exceptional quality of Steven’s products and mentioned that he also sells ready-made spice mixtures for easy dinner preparation.

Guest speaker for Monday's meeting is Matthew Sharp, who's leading Friends of Wells. The new group plans to connect students to West Town businesses for vocational apprenticeships by this fall. It has Wells administration support and is looking for ways to to work with EVA. There will also be a presentation on revised plans for the Forbidden Root brewpub, and a new-business introduction from Epic Spices , 1725 W. Chicago Ave.

East Village Association board meeting minutes, Feb. 10, 2014 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave. Rather than lift the liquor moratorium in place, Forbidden Root is pursuing a change in city ordinance that would allow package and carryout sales of their beer as incidental to production onsite. The ordinance has already been introduced to city council and put into committee, so the process is underway – more info to come. Neal McKnight has been working with FR’s attorney, Rolando Acosta, on the C-1 zoning and Plan of Operations. There is a preliminary Plan of Operations being circulated, and some issues such as truck loading still need to be detailed further. McKnight will continue to work with Acosta and present more information to the general membership at the March 3 EVA meeting. 1822-50 W. Chicago Ave., Steve Fifield In response to EVA’s inquiry into the possibility of a Commercial Park expansion, Fifield has stated that he will not sell the p...

Neal McKnight (left) fields a question from Chris Long. East Village Association membership meeting minutes, February 3, 2014 Submitted by KK Goh Forbidden Root Clarification by Neal McKnight that there is no adversarial relationship between EVA and Forbidden Root. Forbidden Root had initially approached EVA to request lifting liquor moratorium.  EVA requested Forbidden Root to consider historical issues in the neighborhood and to consider alternative measures.  Forbidden Root was receptive to working with EVA to discuss alternatives. In last public meeting, Forbidden Root suggested that first step will be to push for a legislative change on liquor licenses that are incidental to a brewery business, and if that fails the brewer might request lifting the current moratorium. The brewery requested an opportunity to present plans for a Chicago Avenue zoning change (C1 with restrictions) and ordinance change (incidental liquor sales), complying with the license moratorium. Attorney ...

East Village Association membership meeting minutes, January 13, 2014 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Planning, Preservation & Development: Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave. A new brewery and taproom is interested in moving into the former Hub Theater space at 1746 W. Chicago Ave. They will need the liquor moratorium lifted in order to sell packaged goods, and they also need zoning changed from B to C to produce beer on site. EVA has worked to purposefully downzone from C to B in a lot of the commercial strip areas to keep out unwanted light industry uses such as dry cleaning and auto services. Additionally, from an urban planning standpoint, commercial zoning adjacent to residential zoning and spot zoning are not ideal practices. There are some existing C zoned areas close by on Grand Avenue that would work well for a project such as this one. At this point, the planning committee is against the upzone and moratorium lift, as it goes against what they have been working toward f...

East Village Association board meeting minutes, January 13, 2014 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Planning, Preservation & Development: Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave. Representatives approached Neal McKnight with their proposed brewery-taproom on Chicago Avenue. They need a liquor moratorium lifted, and the zoning changed from B to C to open at that location. McKnight discussed the project with Scott Rappe and Peter Locke of the PPD committee, and they all agreed that the project would be fine if they kept within the existing zoning of the site. Rich Anselmo stated that he and EVA fought for B zoning there, as well as along much of Chicago Avenue to keep out unwanted uses such as dry cleaning and auto services. Additionally, from an urban planning standpoint, commercial zoning adjacent to residential zoning and spot zoning are not ideal practices. There are some existing C zoned areas close by on Grand Avenue that would work well for such a project. EVA worked extensively ...

The East Village Association is pleased that Forbidden Root is willing to consider compromises to its original proposal, including legislative changes, and we look forward to working with them on these issues. As we noted in our most recent statement, w e look forward to continuing to work with Forbidden Root to craft a proposal that would allow the business to open and to maintain the protections available to the surrounding residents. —Neal McKnight, EVA president

Proposed site of Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave. President's Message By Neal McKnight It's again a critical time for East Village and the other neighborhoods near the Loop. There's a strong attraction to neighborhoods near the core of the city. East Village already benefits from this demographic trend, and is challenged by it. The East Village Association recognized this and consulted other groups – and most importantly Ald. Proco Joe Moreno and his staff – to develop a plan that would address the challenges of Chicago’s changing demographics. As part of this plan, in April 2013 Ald. Moreno agreed to maintain the liquor moratoria in the East Village Association territory until May 2015. It is important to note that not all liquor licenses are banned by the moratoria, and new East Village restaurants continue to obtain incidental liquor licenses. The purpose of the plan was to allow our past planning experience with liquor sales guide the continued development of ...

President's Message By Neal McKnight There has been a great deal of talk today about EVA's involvement in a request to upzone a Chicago Avenue property from B to C zoning to accommodate a small brewery with wholesale sales and an accompanying large bar. Forbidden Root presented a proposal to EVA representatives knowing full well that their proposal was contrary to the City of Chicago zoning, contrary to what both Alderman Moreno, EVA and others had together agreed were appropriate uses for this area. Nevertheless, EVA discussed with a representative of Forbidden Root the proposal and requested that they alter their plans so that they need not request a zoning change from B to C zoning. First, EVA suggested that they open an establishment that served their own beer as being incidental to food service. Second, we asked that they not use the location as their wholesale beer sales point. Notably, these uses are not described in the flyer that is being distributed. We have h...