By Jim Merkel
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:24 AM CDT

Somewhere else in the city, developers William Ridings and Lester Dills might have no problem obtaining approval for their plan to put a two-building townhouse development on three-tenths of an acre.

But the two want to put their development on the northwest corner of Clifton and Columbia avenue, where former 24th Ward Aldermen Thomas Bauer alienated neighbors with his support of an earlier proposal. His backing the unpopular development was one of the factors that led to a successful effort to recall him.

Members of the Clifton Heights Neighborhood Association sharply criticized the plan when Ridings presented it at a meeting of their group June 23 at the Mason Elementary School.Among the things they didn’t like was the amount of traffic that would come out of a single driveway on the lot, the lack of windows on sides of the buildings facing the street and a sharp dropoff at the back of the property.

“I think these are very ugly buildings that won’t fit in the neighborhood at all,” said Judy McNamara, a community activist who fought in the successful campaign to recall Bauer. One of the key issues in that campaign was Bauer’s support of an effort to put one building with six townhouses on the property, which had been the location of the former Clifton Heights Presbyterian Church. While the project was stopped, the church was demolished.

“The man (Ridings) wasn’t really prepared tonight to be truthful. I didn’t feel he had any idea how embittered these people were,” Alderman William Waterhouse, who succeeded Bauer as 24th Ward alderman, said after the June 23 meeting.

“I think he could make it work, but he’s going to have to make some changes,” Waterhouse said. “I think it can be worked out.”

Ridings told those at the meeting that each townhouse would cost $250,000 and have 1,680 square feet, three bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths and a two-car, rear-entry basement garage.

The association’s members will take a vote on the project at its July 28 meeting. Waterhouse said he would abide by the wishes of the group’s members in deciding whether to seek zoning changes needed for the project.

Ridings said he and Dills wouldn’t be willing to make major changes requested at last week’s meeting, although they could make minor changes on windows. He said there are one or two people complaining and the rest have no problem with the proposal.

Among those who raised concerns were Joseph and Donna Raible, who live behind the property.

“I have some serious concerns about the engineering,” Joseph Raible said. He said there is a roughly 10-foot drop from the foundation to his property. He would like to speak to the engineers for the project.

Association member Woody Lange said there were almost no windows on the side of the buildings. He would like some put in. But Ridings said that would necessitate putting them in a closet.

One person who didn’t raise an objection was Kay Marshall, who owns apartments nearby. “We don’t have a problem at all,” she said.



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