Controversial Glenview Development Wins Plan Commission Approval

GLENVIEW, IL — The developer of a proposed commercial development at the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten roads, which has provoked months of passionate opposition and a lawsuit from residents nearby, received a positive recommendation from the Glenview Plan Commission earlier this month following changes to the final site plan.

The amended proposal from GW Property Group LLC for the property at 2660 Pfingsten Road, which is owned by Florence and Max Hart and annexed by the village of Glenview in 1988, eliminates six single-family homes and adds a stormwater detention basin on the south end of the 8.5 acre-site.

Located on the border of Northbrook and Glenview, the property's estimated market value is $1.77 million, according to the Cook County assessor's office. The property is currently under contract, and GW Properties Principal Mitch Goltz declined to disclose the sale price.

The planned development would consist of more than 63,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space across four single-story buildings. It would include a 35,000-square-foot grocery store anchor tenant. The other buildings divided among multiple tenants, including a dentist's office, hair salon, restaurants, fitness and health care offices, according to village documents summarizing the application.

At a Nov. 19 special meeting, the plan commission voted 3-2 to recommend the new plan to the full village board, with commissioners Michael Burton, Tom Fallon and Linda Kreer Witt voting in favor and Jerry Ciolek and Brian Duff opposing the motion. It was the sixth plan commission meeting since August where the project has been discussed.

Dozens of residents have spoken in opposition the project since the first developer's meeting this spring. They brought up concerns over traffic, safety and declining property value, worries that the retail development at an intersection that already includes two strip malls on the east side of Pfingsten Road would damage the character of the neighborhood and stormwater management.

Residents formed a group called WillowPfingstenSW to organize opposition to the project, with hundreds signing a petition in opposition to the project and more than a dozen signing on to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court in September naming Village President Jim Patterson, the village board and its appearance and plan commissions as defendants.

The suit alleges an ordinance passed in 1988 allowing the northern 6.2 acres of the parcel was not properly noticed and a public hearing, required to rezone property, was not held in 2019. Village Attorney Julie Tappendorf told Pioneer Press the public hearing to rezone the area for possible commercial use was done properly 31 years ago, with the village's response to the suit describing its arguments as "flimsy as best."

An online fundraiser to support the cost of the litigation has raised more than $19,000 in its first two months. The case is scheduled for its next hearing before Circuit Judge Michael Tully on Dec. 17.

According to a Nov. 11 letter to village staff from Mitch Goltz, principal of GW Properties, said the amended version of the plan would allow for the presentation of "significantly more trees" and leave about 37.5 percent of the property as landscaping and open space.

"We would not be seeking any variances, special uses or Village subsidies or concessions with this proposal," it said. Goltz said no further development of the southern 2.35 acres of the parcel would be allowed under the revised plan.

"Furthermore, this land would be encumbered with variance easements, restrictions and improvements that would require this land be kept as proposed and not developed for any purposes such as construction of homes or retail," he told staff. "These would run with the land and recorded against title for the property."

Glenview trustees are due to next consider the revised proposal at their Dec. 3 meeting.

Watch Nov. 19 Village of Glenview Plan Commission Meeting:

UPDATE: Controversial Willow-Pfingsten Development Wins Village Approval