Trustees To Consider Updated Optima Wilmette Development Plans

WILMETTE, IL — The developer behind a proposal to build a 109-unit mixed-use development across from the Metra station submitted revised plans this week ahead of next week's Wilmette Village Board meeting.

Optima Inc. wants trustees to permit a seven-story planned unit development at the northwest corner of Green Bay Road and Central Avenue, on the current site of the Wilmette branch of the International Bank of Chicago. The Glencoe-based residential real estate firm submitted a preliminary application in November. The proposed design includes retail, office and residential space at ground level and a penthouse on its top floor.

Following discussions at two meetings earlier this year, the village's plan commission voted 5-2 against recommending approval of the proposal to the village board. Commissioners expressed concerns about the height of the building as well as the proposed public benefit. At its tallest point, the building would be nearly 80 feet high. The maximum height permitted at the site under existing village rules is four stories and 52 feet.

As a result, the development would require a supermajority of trustees of the six-member board to vote in its favor, William Bradford, the commission's chairman, said at the Feb. 4 meeting. Though he voted against the plans as presented at the meeting, Bradford said he saw the public benefits of the project, in terms of increasing housing units and additional potential retail space.

"I think from a vitalization standpoint, if you look along Green Bay Road right now, it's like somebody with a bad set of teeth. It's very porous," Bradford said. "This development proposal does help to get rid of a lot of open surface parking lot but also helps to reinforce the street edge, and I think that helps to create a much stronger street presence for the village."

Commissioner Mariah DiGrino said she remained unconvinced by the public benefits promised by the developers, which mainly boiled down to commitments to bird-friendly design and a donation toward affordable housing.

"For me, it's not enough to justify the significant amount of relief they're requesting. These really ask us to balance a policy decision in favor of affordable housing, which, while it is a very important policy decision, it requires us to, really, ignore everything else," DiGrino said.

According to Optima's updated application materials, the developer wants a dozen exceptions to village regulations. They include: permitting office use and residential units on the ground floor, allowing the development to exceed the maximum allowable height by more than 20 feet to allow a seventh-floor penthouse, and decreasing minimum ground floor height and pedestrian access requirements, among other things.

Benefits identified by the developer include a 1,212-square-foot public plaza with seating and an art installation, 23 additional public parking places and two electric vehicle charging stations. The development would also be the village's first to be built with a bird-friendly design, would achieve the equivalent of LEED Silver certification and would promote redevelopment and reinvestment in the village center, according to Optima Senior Vice President Mark Segal.

The proposed building would not have any affordable units on site, but the developers said they intended to donate $1.6 million to the nonprofit Community Partners for Affordable Housing. That would be enough to establish 14 permanently affordable homes elsewhere in the village and "develop a sustainable infrastructure to build, expand and manage a stock of affordable housing that will remain affordable in perpetuity for Wilmette residents," Segal said in a Feb. 18 letter to village staff.

"We believe that our efforts to fully respond to the comments and direction provided by the Plan Commission have resulted in significant enhancements to our project that will enable it to be an attractive and desirable contribution to the Village Center District and the Village as a whole."

Commissioner Jeffrey Head said he believed everyone on the commission agreed that the development would generally be a positive addition and meet the goals of the village's master plan.

"But as I think most of us have said," Head said, "the benefit relative to the relief seems mismatched."

Bradford, Head and DiGrino voted against the proposal, as did Commissioners Homa Ghaemi and Justin Sheperd. Commissioners Michael Taylor and Steven Schwab voted in favor.

Village trustees are scheduled to consider the proposed at their Feb. 25 meeting.

More information from the Village of Wilmette