Examiner Oks Car-Repair Shop 10-Bay Alton’s Tire Facility Planned On 30th Avenue Near Regal

A proposal to tear out five homes on 30th Avenue near Regal Street and replace them with a 10-bay auto repair facility has won approval from the city hearing examiner.

Nearby residents and the owner of an apartment building across 30th Avenue from the site fought the proposal.

Hearing Examiner Greg Smith said he approved the project because the Lincoln Heights Specific Plan, last updated in 1990, allows business uses on 30th Avenue.

Under land-use law, a zone change can be granted from residential to business use if the comprehensive plan allows for the more intense use.

The zone change is being sought by Joe Stanek, representing the Frank W. Stanek Trust.

During testimony at a hearing last month, Alton’s Tire Center was identified as a prospective operator of the facility.

Nearby apartment residents complained that noise from tire changing would be too great of an intrusion on them. They also pointed to increased traffic on 30th Avenue and Fiske Street and congestion from additional on-street parking.

The building would sit a half-block south of 29th Avenue but would be situated to face 29th. The main access would be from Fiske Street just south of 29th Avenue.

The site sits on a small hill to the south of 29th Avenue. The building would be sunk into the hill so no more than 10 feet of the structure would stand above the ground on 30th Avenue. Landscaping would be planted along the street to screen the building from apartments across 30th.

In his decision, Smith said he will require the developer to use extra insulation and equip the shop with new types of tools that are less noisy than older air wrenches.

The hearing examiner is also calling for Staneks to provide a joint parking arrangement with adjacent property the company owns to the north on 29th Avenue.

However, Smith said he will ask the city Transportation Department to analyze vehicle use on Fiske in one or two years to consider the possibility of eliminating on-street parking.

Smith dismissed fears about heavy traffic on Fiske and 30th by pointing out that traffic studies showed the number of cars on the two residential streets would not exceed the 1,000-car-a-day standard for local access streets.

, DataTimes