Wedding Chapel, Banquet Hall no Match Made in Heaven

Neighbors concerned about traffic, parking, noise and even views from their living rooms kept a Greenfield business owner from expanding his operation.

Jeff Kohl, owner of , 9008 W. Forest Home Ave., wanted to serve alcohol in a private, 1,100-square-foot banquet room that would eventually occupy the entire adjacent tenant space and use the banquet room in conjunction with the existing wedding chapel or for other private group functions.

But the Greenfield Common Council shot down the proposal 4-1 after listening to concerns from several residential neighbors at a public hearing Wednesday.

Most neighbors were concerned the parking lot, which would be redesigned to hold 26 cars, would not be enough, and that parking would spill over onto 92nd Street. 

A tearful Angela Cvikel, 5090 S. 92nd Street, said Kohl’s current customers park in front of their driveway and litter in their yard. She said the intersection of 92nd Street and Forest Home Avenue was already dangerous, and she collected 12 signatures from neighbors who were against the proposal.

Jamie Cvikel, Angela Cvikel's husband, said during a wedding ceremony, cars typically line the east and west sides of 92nd Street.

“I don’t think people want to look out of their front window and see a parking lot,” he said. “Basically, that’s what it is.”

Gary Brott, 5054 S. 92nd Street, lives three houses down from the wedding chapel and said the line of cars sometimes extends all the way to his lot.

Kohl said he was working with the county to put up no-parking signs on 92nd Street. Kohl also suggested that should the 26 parking stalls not be adequate, his customers could park on 92nd Street south of Forest Home Avenue, in Greendale.

Only Alderperson Linda Lubotsky voted in favor of Kohl’s proposal.

“I think they have a good idea. Whatever business goes in there, there’s going to be cars, there’s going to be traffic,” Lubotsky said. “The neighbors have to know they bought a house next to a commercial building. … Businesses have a right to be heard and be allowed to be in Greenfield.”