Controversial Willow-Pfingsten Development Wins Village Approval

GLENVIEW, IL — A controversial commercial development planned for the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten roads on the border of Glenview and Northbrook received final approval last week in a unanimous vote. Nearby residents objected to the plan, raising concerns about traffic, safety and the density of the project — even filing an abortive civil lawsuit alleging the village failed to properly publicize a meeting more than three decades ago.

But at their Jan. 7 meeting, Glenview trustees voted 6-0 to clear the way for GW Properties to build a 63,000-square-foot retail development on an 8.5-acre parcel at 2660 Pfingsten Road. The project would include a 35,000-square-foot grocery store as its anchor tenant in one of four freestanding buildings on the northern 6.2 acres of the property, which is known as the Hart Estate after the family that has owned it for decades. The development will also contain restaurants, fitness and medical uses, according to the plans.

In 1988, the Hart family arranged for the plot to be annexed into Glenview, with the village board approving an ordinance allowing it to be zoned for commercial use in the future. The property is currently under contract to GW Properties for an undisclosed price. Its current estimated market value is $1.77 million, according to the Cook County assessor's office. There are currently a pair of strip malls — Plaza Del Prado and Glenbrook Marketplace — to its east on the other side of Pfingsten Road and residential subdivisions to its south and west.

Some residents opposed to the plan said they were never notified of the potential for commercial development of the site when they purchased their homes. But trustees said the developers had followed all the requirements under village code and made major changes to the proposal to respond to concerns from residents.

Village President Jim Patterson said meetings about proposed developments always attract more people opposed to change than supporting it. As he explained trustees obligation to follow the village's ordinances and codes, a man in the audience began shouting that the decision was "outrageous" and "nonsense." Patterson explained he understood the objections from residents but the standards have been set and the board needs to follow the standards.

"This site we don't own it and you don't own it. The seller did, actually, find a way to get the zoning change way before any of us were here. It is changed and done legally. We have to comply with that," Patterson said. "There is no requests for variances in this. It is 100 percent compliant. Everything else is subjective that says 'Is it too dense?' — That's one person's opinion over another. It is legal. Everything that's here is in conformance. So I get you don't like a change to your neighborhood, I understand that completely, our entire board is sympathetic to that, yet we have also other obligations."

Mitch Golz, principal of Chicago-based GW Properties, said his development team had made a series of adjustments to the plan to address residents concerns about circulation. He said there would not be significant truck traffic throughout the day, a concern expressed by some residents.

"We made sure that this project is designed in a safe manner," Golz said. "We've consulted this with all our tenants, and their consultants and everybody involved and there's been a lot of eyes on this project up until now."

Golz said there were already commitments to lease more than 75 percent of the retail space in the location.

"We have a nice balanced mix of uses between some fast-casual restaurants, some service retail, some 'soft good' retail and other services," he told trustees. According to village documents, potential tenants also include a dentist's office, hair salon, fitness center and health care offices.

Golz said property taxes generated by the property are currently about $25,000. Once the development is built, based on its size, he said it would bring in about $400,000 in annual property tax revenue. The developer said that would provide an estimated $8 million in additional funding to Glenview public school districts and $1 million to the Glenview Park District over the next 20 years.

As for sales tax revenue, based on an estimated $40 million a year in gross receipts, Golz projected that would lead to about $700,000 in additional sales tax revenue every year — not counting permit and other fees collected by municipal authorities.

An earlier version of the proposed development included six single-family homes on the southern portion of the property. The residential component was scrapped and replaced with a stormwater detention basin on the southern 2.3 acres of the site. Golz told staff in November that the amended plan allows for more trees and leaves more than 37 percent of the property as open space.

Earlier: Controversial Glenview Development Wins Plan Commission Approval

Trustee Debby Karton said it is an understandably emotional subject for homeowners to consider new developments coming into their neighborhood, and many have come to board meetings to express their fears in the past. But, Karton said, none of the fears expressed by residents about developments have ever been realized once construction is complete.

"There have been many developments where many parts of the village, the neighborhoods, have come before us and told us what you've been telling us. And what I heard a lot is we're not listening to you," Karton said. She said village ordinances sets the community's standards for all developers to meet and trustees are not permitted to demand more on a case-by-case basis.

"Me not agreeing doesn't mean I'm not listening, doesn't mean we all haven't read the packets and spent hours going through this, and doing our due diligence," she told opponents of the plan at the Jan. 7 meeting. "And I wish there was a way that I could snap my fingers and give you want you wanted, still by following the ordinances of the village. I just, based on my understanding, don't believe that I have that power or any of us have that power."

Resident Terrie Stengel, one of the residents who have spoken in opposition to the development, said the intersection of Willow and Pfingsten roads already had problems with circulation.

"Hundreds of residents have been let down during every meeting since April. It's time to revise this plan for the safety and sanity of our neighbors and all who travel these roads," Stengel said. "Traffic will cut through our quiet residential streets. I walk our dogs several times every day. Cars are already going well over 30 mph in spite of two 20 mph signs in each directions."

Residents organized against the development created a group called Keep Our Neighborhood Residential. In addition to lobbying village trustees to push for changes to the plan, the group filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court alleging that proper public notice was not provided ahead of the 1988 changes to the sites zoning. An online fundraising effort raised nearly $20,000 to support costs related to civil litigation filed in Cook County to attempt to block the effort. Circuit Judge Michael Mullen granted a motion to dismiss the case last month, according to court records.

In a statement following the Jan. 7 vote, the group said it was disappointed with the results of the vote and called for residents to "consider voting your frustration" with incumbent trustees at the next municipal election.

The project received a recommendation from the plan commission in November and first approval from the village board at its Dec. 3 meeting. Approval by the appearance commission at its Jan. 15 meeting is the final step required before the developers can apply for permits and begin construction.

Watch: Glenview Village Board Meeting from Jan. 7 - Final site plan review and preliminary subdivision of 2660 Pfingsten Road