La Grange Adopts New Comprehensive Plan Amid Density Concerns

La Grange has a new Comprehensive Plan after the village’s Board of Trustees approved the long-debated document late last month. Officials reached consensus after much discussion and public comment, including one sticking point about allowing three and four flat units in certain residential zones, classified R-6, which drew opposition from those concerned about density in La Grange’s East Side neighborhood. Many of the residents of the area have made it clear in previous meetings that they are not happy about the prospect of their neighborhood changing into something they don’t recognize. Current R-6 zoning allows only single family and duplex homes, although there are some three flat, non-conforming structures in the historic East Side Community. While there is R-6 zoning in other parts of La Grange, 62% of it is in the East Side district, while similarly zoned areas are scattered in areas of the village already loaded with apartment and condo buildings. During a November community meeting at the 2nd Baptist Church of La Grange, residents voted to urge village officials to not allow any three and four flats in R-6, but grandfather in the three flats already there. “Certainly we have a humanitarian feeling and we don’t want to evict, or have someone evicted from that process,” community activist Bessie Emerson Boyd told the board in discussion leading up to the Comprehensive Plan’s approval. Resident John Pluto told board members that perhaps elements of the new plan didn’t have to change from the old guidance. “I think it should be left just like it is.