The homes would be built on a "narrow strip" between Cook County Forest Preserve land and a proposed bike path just south of where Bryn Mawr Avenue meets Kostner Avenue, according to the community association. View Full Caption Sauganash Community Association

SAUGANASH — Leaders of the Sauganash Community Association rejected a proposal to build 18 townhomes near the LaBagh Woods, they announced Wednesday.

The group warned against "the potential loss of green space and questioned the appropriateness of adding density to this out-of-the-way corner of the neighborhood," the announcement read.

The plan calls to build the homes on a "narrow strip" between Cook County Forest Preserve land and a proposed bike path just south of where Bryn Mawr Avenue meets Kostner Avenue, the notice continued.

"We just didn't think 18 townhomes would be a benefit to that area, and we really weren't sure if they'd even be marketable," said David Seglin, president of the community association.

The Skokie-based North Capital Group would need Ald. Margaret Luarino (39th) to push a zoning change if its plan is to move forward. But Laurino said she would not approve the project unless it first earned the community association's blessing, according to her spokesman, Manuel Galvan.

"The alderman shared the [association's] decision with the developer, and he said he understood," Galvan said. "So he's going to take his proposal back to the drawing board, and she's fine with that."

But Seglin remains skeptical of any construction on the property, he said.

"I would be in favor of building them in an area that's right for them, like on Cicero [Avenue], where you have some multi-unit buildings," Seglin said.

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