Just days before the Oak Park Plan Commission was to consider a developer’s controversial proposal for a high-rise apartment building near a historic site, the hearing was pushed to next month.
The proposed 10-story, 24-unit apartment building is adjacent to the historic Boulevard Arcade Building on South Blvd. The developer’s representative, John Schiess, asked the village to move the item from a Feb. 19 Plan Commission agenda to a March 12 meeting.
Because the proposed building abuts the Boulevard Arcade Building, the owner, under guidance of Schiess, its architect, sought a Certificate of Appropriateness from the village’s Historic Preservation Commission during several appearances before that group over multiple years. The preservation commission denied the COA four times in total, while some residents in the area have been vocal in their opposition to the development.
Last fall, Oak Park’s village board heard the owner’s appeal and issued a COA for the building, overruling the Historic Preservation Commission citing a need for more housing in the village.
Before overruling the commission’s denial, several trustees said that the village needed to work on its hearing process to avoid a repeated waste of both developer and commissioner time in the future.
“The fact that this has gone through four hearings and still needs to go through even more, I don’t know why they even want to build anything here,” Trustee Cory Wesely said at the meeting. “That’s a problem that we at this board need to fix. We can’t have people waiting a year before they know if they can actually build something. I think that’s going to cost us development that we could otherwise use.”
The project was then directed to the Plan Commission for review.
The village board’s decision caused two members of the Historic Preservation Commission to resign, including then-commission chair Louis Garapolo. In his resignation letter, Garapolo wrote that the board’s ruling on the project made it impossible for him to continue serving on the commission.
“In my opinion, this disregard for the required process has undermined the Commission’s work and the integrity of Oak Park’s Preservation ordinance,” he wrote in the letter, obtained by Wednesday Journal through FOIA request. “Because of this recent Board decision regarding 1035 South Blvd, I find it difficult to continue on the Commission and proceed with a positive attitude.”
Former commissioner Mark Weiner also resigned following the board’s ruling.
“I served on the Historic Preservation Commission and Architectural Review Committee for 2 1/2 years,” Weiner wrote. “In that time, I learned the board and president do not appreciate or understand historic preservation, even though a large basis of Oak Park’s economic model involves historic tourism.”
The Historic Preservation liaison role for the village has been in flux during the HPC’s meetings concerning the 1035 South Blvd. process. Susie Trexler, the Urban Planner in Historic Preservation for Oak Park, left her position after more than five years in July 2024. The role was then filled by Atefa Ghaznawi, who worked as the Historic Preservation liaison from September 2024 until August 2025. In October 2025, urban planner Brenton Boitse was hired for the position.
The plan commission will consider the application of Sachem Building LLC and its principal J. Trent Stoner for the project at 1035 South Blvd next month.
The application, including renderings can be seen here.
The owners are requesting relief from zoning ordinances regarding building height, off-street parking and unit density.
