SELVN Rejects Broadway Youth Center Proposal

The South East Lake View Neighbors (SELVN) rejected a proposal to support the Broadway Youth Center's (BYC) request for a special use permit to continue operating in the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ at their January meeting on Monday. 

The proposal, which could only be voted on by SELVN members, failed by 20 votes, with the 41 voting against the permit request, 21 voting for it and 3 abstaining. 

The rejection does not mean that the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals will reject the BYC's permit request at their meeting on Friday, but rather SELVN's vote is something for the Board to consider. 

The Broadway Youth Center has been operating inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ since June, but recently learned that they'll need a special-use permit to stay open. 

Shortly before the vote, it was announced that SELVN and the BYC had failed to reach an agreement on the Good Neighbors Agreement,  which would have created guidelines for the Center and the neighborhood to adhere to. 

The Good Neighbors Agreement went through a couple of drafts between SELVN and the BYC, but stalled after the Center offered comments that the SELVN Board found too difficult to adhere to. 

"[The proposed changes by the BYC] involved removing language that we felt would be necessary to do anything," Mike Demetriou, SELVN President, said. "The Good Neighbors Agreement was something that, in spirit, we appreciated but in practicality had no legal purpose or legal merit."

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