St. Norbert Catholic Church is planning to embark on a small building project later this year to add restrooms, an elevator and other amenities to bring the Northbrook church into compliance with federal accessibility regulations.
The project needs approvals from the Northbrook Village Board, but those are likely to be granted, the board’s building and zoning committee chairman said during a recent public review of the preliminary plans.
“They want to do this just so people with handicaps can go to church. Is that right?” Trustee James Karagianis asked on May 23. “I don’t see any problem with it.”
The project is happening now because of funds raised during the four-year-old Archdiocese of Chicago’s $350 million “To Teach Who Christ Is” campaign, in which parishioners in Northbrook and elsewhere raised money for local needs and the archdiocese, according to Moira Cary, director of finance and operations for St. Norbert.
Those funds also have covered, she said, new air-conditioning chillers for the church at 1809 Walters Ave. In the future, they’ll cover replacement of the steps up to the church, and remodeling of the narthex and the baptismal font area, she said.
As the project heads to the Northbrook Plan Commission for public hearings, Karagianis and other trustees only saw one possible issue. The addition needs a zoning code variation so that it can protrude to within three feet five inches of the Spruce Street-side property line, instead of the required 40 feet in its Institutional Building district.
But officials said the building predates the code and currently extends to about 11 and a half feet from the property line.
A public hearing has not yet been scheduled.
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