2007-03-21 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan commission
Document Type: 0 A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 03/21/2007
Type of Meeting:
PUBLIC HEARING
BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION
March 21, 2007
Comprehensive Plan Update
Chairman Ottenheimer called the hearing to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers,
Buffalo Grove Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Chairman
Ottenheimer read the Notice of Public Hearing as published in the Buffalo Grove Daily Herald,
explained the procedure to be followed for the public hearing, and swore in all persons who
wished to give testimony.
Commissioners present: Chairman Ottenheimer
Mr. Smith
Ms. Bocek
Mr. Khan
Mr. Stark
Mr. Cohn
Commissioners absent: Ms. Kenski-Sroka
Mr. Teplinsky
Mr. Podber
Also present: Mr. William Brimm, Village Manager
Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner
The following exhibits were presented by the petitioner at the public hearing:
Exhibit 1: Draft Goals and Objectives, dated March 21, 2007
Exhibit 2: Unincorporated areas map, dated November 6, 2006
Exhibit 3: Bike Path map, dated November 21, 2006
Exhibit 4: Transportation Plan map, dated October 17, 2006
Exhibit 5: Prairie View sub-area future land use map, dated January 9, 2007
Exhibit 6: Aptakisic Road sub-area future land use map, dated January 9, 2007
Exhibit 7: Village planning area—future land use map, dated February 12, 2007
Mr. Pfeil reviewed the process to date noting that the community survey was conducted in the
summer of 2005, which helped to start identifying elements of community vision. In the summer
of 2006 meetings were conducted to get input from residents and property owners for the
Aptakisic Road corridor, Prairie View and the Dunlo Highlands area at Dundee Road/Buffalo
Grove Road. The transit-oriented development planning focusing on Prairie View and the
Buffalo Grove Metra station was also completed by the Plan Commission in 2006. He noted that
the Commission has developed draft goals and objectives, and the current draft dated March 21,
2007 is open for review at tonight's hearing. The goals and objectives will be revised as needed
for the final draft document.
Mr. Pfeil stated some of the general themes concerning the community vision and the goals and
objectives are: land use patterns which are balanced among land uses and have compatibility
among land uses; housing opportunity with a range of prices and types of housing for different
demographic groups within the community; issues of vehicular traffic congestion and linked to
that is better pedestrian paths and bicycle paths linking to job centers and employment centers
and employment areas as well as shopping center, schools and open spaces. Overall the goals
and objectives focus on development and urban design to foster developments that create a sense
of place and have strong aesthetics and design qualities.
Mr. Pfeil noted that in late 2005 and 2006 the Commission focused on the transit oriented
development study for the Prairie View station and the Buffalo Grove Metra station, which had a
heavy public involvement component from property owners and residents of the Prairie View
area, and to some extent the businesses around the Buffalo Grove Metra station. The
Commission spent many hours and great effort on the planning, which developed into a final
document called the Transit Station Area Study, which the Village Board approved. The Study is
not a formal part of the Comprehensive Plan, but some of the policies and recommendations will
be used as part of the final planning documents in the land use maps.
Mr. Pfeil reviewed the unincorporated areas map which includes the Stancliff property, the
Prairie View area and the corner property area near Prairie View and the Aptakisic Road area
with the Didier property and Hoffman farm and areas on the south side of Aptakisic and
generally the area east of Prairie and north of Aptakisic. This is one of the core areas of the
Village as far as areas that can be annexed and control development in. The northern part of the
Village is a very key area. In the eastern segment of Aptakisic Road, there is an industrial area
along Industrial Drive in Lincolnshire and west of some of the existing development such as the
Leider Greenhouse and the area along Barclay Boulevard. There is a plan under review currently
for industrial development on part of that unincorporated area adjacent to the Leider property.
At Milwaukee Avenue south of Aptakisic Road the Land and Lakes property is unincorporated
but is within the Village's planning area. On the east side of Milwaukee some areas are indicated
for Buffalo Grove and others are designated for Lincolnshire. Farther south there are areas such
as Horatio Gardens and the Pekara area and other areas controlled by Lake County Public Works
that probably will not be annexed into the Village. Similarly the Chevy Chase golf course will
not be annexed to the Village. He noted the Village's settlement with the Wheeling Park District
stipulates that the Chevy Chase Golf Course will not be annexed to Buffalo Grove. In the heart
of the Village in the Schwaben area along Weiland Road and some smaller properties such as the
will probably be annexed to the Village eventually, these properties are designated for residential
development.
Mr. Pfeil stated the southerly planning area includes the Dunlo area on either side of Buffalo
Grove Road south of Dundee Road. This area could be involuntarily annexed, but in public input
meetings with the Dunlo residents, it was clear that they do not want to be part of the Village.
Residents of the area known as the Highlands on the east side of Buffalo Grove Road may want
to annex, and it might be able to be done in incrementally lot by lot or a larger number of people
could participate in a shared petition. However, the critical issue for all of these areas is utility
planning and related to that is planning for the type of development that is appropriate in terms
the number and size of single-family lots. The Village strongly leans toward keeping the platting
arrangement as it is rather than increasing the density in this area.
Mr. Pfeil reviewed the bikepath plan noting that one of the Village's themes for bikepath
planning is to create connections. Some of the amenities in the region which need better
connections are the Des Plaines River trail and some of the Lake County Forest Preserve areas
along the trail, and the Buffalo Creek Preserve west of Arlington Heights Road near Checker
Road. The Village has a very well-developed bikepath system, so much of the bikepath planning
will focus on linking paths and creating better connections to employment centers, schools, parks
and shopping areas. Ideally, people will make increased use of the path system for transportation
as well as recreation.
Mr. Pfeil reviewed the transportation map which shows proposed roads such as the Weiland
Road extension north of Aptakisic Road connected to Prairie Road where the current "T"
intersection would be replaced by a curved re-alignment. In the Didier area north of Aptakisic
Road, a collector road is planned between Aptakisic Road and Buffalo Grove Road, and also
extend south from Aptakisic to the existing Margate Drive in the Old Farm Village subdivision.
There are no other planned roads in the Village's street system. Cook County's Highway
Department has studied alternatives to address Lake Cook Road congestion, and the Village's
plan retains the connector between Weiland Road and Buffalo Grove Road, but it is not a firm
plan by Cook County at this point. Clearly something will be done on Lake Cook Road
eventually. The Village's policy has been that Lake Cook Road should not be considered for
widening in a major way through the heart of the Village until other transportation improvements
like Route 22 are completed, The Village has strongly supported the extension of Route 53 north
of Lake Cook Road. The Village bears the burden of traffic passing through the community, so
the Village strongly supports the improvement of arterial roads to reduce congestion in the
community and distribute commuter traffic more evenly within this part of the region.
Mr. Pfeil continued by reviewing exhibit 5 depicting the Prairie View sub-area. He noted there
was a great deal of discussion and policy alternatives as they did the transit oriented study. The
Stancliff property at the far northerly part of the area was designated single-family detached with
a large green area linking with bikepaths and sidewalks to other things in the area such as
Stevenson high school and the other parts of Prairie View. A six unit per acre density is the
residential recommendation for the Prairie View area. The transit area study proposed densities
substantially higher than that, but the Village Board was very reluctant to put that into a plan as
the recommended land use, so it is more a six unit per acre density as the main recommendation.
At the corner of Main Street and Route 22 the current uses would hopefully be redeveloped for
mixed use including retail, service and residential. There is no specific plan for that but it is a
great opportunity to develop a much better land use than what is there now as far as productivity
and community enhancement.
Mr. Pfeil stated the goal for the property south of Route 22 is to achieve access across from
Willow Parkway and to evaluate connection to the subdivision being built to the south, The
Villas of Chestnut Ridge. He stated it is necessary to carefully evaluate pedestrian street
linkages among all these properties and this is obviously recommending residential for this
property. The 1998 plan has commercial on this property but residential seems to be a more
appropriate fit for the property at this time.
Mr. Pfeil reviewed exhibit 6 concerning the Aptakisic Road sub-area. The primary properties
are the Didier property east of Buffalo Grove Road and north of Aptakisic Road, and the
Hoffman property to the east of the Didier property. A number of property owners control
parcels on the south side of Aptakisic. As a planning area it has some opportunities and
challenges. The Comprehensive Plan designates this area for single-family development, with a
central open space and a road system that connects from Aptakisic up to Buffalo Grove Road.
On the east side of Prairie north of Aptakisic, the Plan assumes that the area will redevelop, and
single-family residential is the recommended land use. The extension of Weiland Road to Prairie
is part of the plan, and it will be challenging to get the property for the road alignment, but the
Village is working with Lake County in terms of planning and design. To the east of the road
connector the Plan shows commercial land use for the area north of Aptakisic Road, abutted on
the east by the railroad track.
Mr. Pfeil presented the final exhibit for the overall Village land use plan. He commented that the
areas that are most interesting as far as development potential would be south of Aptakisic along
Milwaukee Avenue including the Land and Lakes property, and the site at Corporate Grove at
the corner of Busch and Milwaukee. The Plan recommends that commercial be considered the
recommended land use for that site, contemplating linkage between Land and Lakes and the
Gateway property to achieve a substantial retail development with coordinated access and
amenities. The westerly part of Land and lakes property would not be appropriate for
conventional retail, but would be more industrial or other types of activity that do not require
intense development because it is a landfill site and the soil conditions and things of that nature
would have to be considered for any buildings built there. South from Busch Parkway down to
Deerfield Parkway and south the Plan recommends commercial land use. The Plan Commission
will soon start reviewing a development plan for the Ventrella property. It is about 20 acres on
the north side of Deerfield and another 6 acres on the south side of Deerfield. It is undeveloped
land zoned commercial.
Mr. Pfeil stated at Lake Cook and Milwaukee is the Riverwalk North development which is only
partially complete. There is one residential component to that with an office and hotel as other
approved uses. He stated they anticipate other ideas being presented other than those uses based
on market conditions. Areas along Milwaukee have some opportunities for more restaurant uses.
A form of a restaurant row is certainly one of the ideas that could be achieved with commercial
designation on the plan. On the northwesterly corner of Lake Cook and Milwaukee the Plan
designates the vacant property for office development rather than residential. Office is the
current approved plan and zoning, and that appears to be a good fit for the property.
Mr. Pfeil noted the Dunlo is primarily designated for single-family residential on either side of
Buffalo Grove Road with a bit of mixed use along Old Buffalo Grove directly abutting existing
commercial uses.
Chairman Ottenheimer asked about the housing objective on page three of the goals and
objectives. He asked if it is perhaps necessary to get more specific in terms of meeting the law
for affordable housing.
Mr. Pfeil stated statistically the Village is still compliant with the State's mandate of at least 10
percent of the housing being technically affordable. However, we do need a housing plan and the
Comprehensive Plan needs to address this issue at least on general terms. After completing the
Comprehensive Plan update, the Commission will need to focus on a more detailed housing plan.
It is difficult to achieve affordable housing without some very strong policies and ways to
implement projects. Land values are so high that it is extremely difficult in conventional
development to achieve affordable housing.
Commissioner Smith asked what the southeast corner of Prairie and Half Day was originally
zoned as.
Mr. Pfeil stated it is unincorporated right now and is actually zoned residential by Lake County.
In the 1998 Comprehensive Plan the Village designated it for commercial development.
Commissioner Smith asked why we are changing that.
Mr. Pfeil stated the access is very constrained and commercial development cannot get access to
Route 22 because of the proximity of the railroad line and the topography of the site. Therefore
the only access to the property is going to be at Willow Parkway. This has very much been a
constraint to several of the commercial concept plans that have been seen. The other issue is that
a residential component is somewhat more consistent with our transit oriented development to
try to put people closer to regional transportation facilities.
Commissioner Smith asked what happened with the proposed Dairy Queen development.
Mr. Pfeil stated it was on one of the plans but the underlying reasons why the plans do not
advance is that the engineering issues are never resolved. There is a lot of expense to do a
stormwater management plan to get utilities to the site and no developer has been able to layout
an engineering plan that works. The Dairy Queen plan may have been more of a developer idea
than a business reality.
Commissioner Smith stated he would prefer to keep commercial zoning there.
Mr. Pfeil noted that the area on the northwest corner is the one with the huge potential. It has the
ability to manage access with controlled signalized access and the topography is favorable and
there is a water area that can be used as an amenity.
Commissioner Smith stated it would be easier for a residential developer to come in and change
an existing commercial zoning than the other way around.
Commissioner Cohn stated he agrees with Commissioner Smith. He asked for a review of the
differences on this map versus the transit-oriented development study. What are the distinctions
we took as the recommendations and what items are not following the recommendations.
Mr. Pfeil stated every property on the transit oriented study recommend much higher residential
densities. The Lincolnshire boundary agreement has a 2 unit per acre limit for the Stancliff
property and the adjacent parcels along Prairie Road. Farther south on Prairie Road there was
much higher density being proposed across from Roslyn Woods north of Brockman Avenue,
which was not supported by the Lincolnshire boundary agreement. Adjacent to Metra station
higher densities were also proposed.
Commissioner Cohn noted the Deerfield Road area is pretty close to what was proposed there
with some variation.
Mr. Pfeil stated at the intersection of Busch and Deerfield Parkway the transit area study had a
very intense development which is not included on the draft Comprehensive Plan map. The
mixed use area at the south side of Deerfield Parkway just east of the railroad track is consistent
with the transit area study. The retail where the current Pace lot is adjacent to the Metra station
parking lot is consistent with the transit area plan. On the west side of Commerce Court the
transit area plan recommended more intense use and some residential use. The transit area plan
recommended high density residential for the unincorporated parcel west of Commerce Court,
and the Comprehensive Plan map recommends residential use in the 15 units per acre range.
Commissioner Cohn stated that if commercial is what we wanted to see or what we think would
be the ideal development, we should zone for it because we can always change it later if
someone comes in with a plan and persuades us that something else is better. He stated that if we
are zoning 6 unit per acre residential then we must believe we really want that and it is not what
he wants and it is not his vision. He would not want to zone for that. He stated we should try to
stay as consistent to what we came up with in the study as possible.
Commissioner Smith asked what area Commissioner Cohn was referring to.
Commissioner Cohn stated it is the southeast corner at Prairie and Half Day and the area along
Prairie Road on the east side of the tracks. The more intense commercial mixed use concept
should remain for both of those areas.
Mr. Brimm said he recalls that the direction from the Plan Commission at the public hearing for
Prairie View was to make sure that everything on the east side of the railroad tracks in Prairie
View was in conformance with the boundary and planning agreement with Lincolnshire. If we
went with Commissioner Cohn's suggestion we would be reversing ourselves. He noted he just
wants to be sure we are consistent.
Commissioner Smith stated he understands the 6 units per acre but asked if the mixed use
portion would also not be allowed.
Mr. Brimm stated the Fiore piece is not within the boundary and planning agreement. The
boundary and planning agreement only contemplated properties with Lincolnshire that are on the
east side of the railroad tracks, most specifically Stancliff and the unincorporated parcels on
Prairie as it moves toward Half Day road. The west side in west Prairie View is not subject to
the boundary and planning agreement.
Commissioner Smith asked if the northeast corner at Main Street and Route 22 is subject to the
boundary agreement and would prevent any mixed use development.
Mr. Pfeil stated it could be mixed use development.
Mr. Brimm stated that corner is not subject to the boundary agreement and further noted that
mixed use was proposed.
Commissioner Smith stated he agrees that corner should be mixed use and still wants the
southeast corner at Prairie and Route 22 should remain commercial.
There being no further comments or questions from anyone else present, Chairman Ottenheimer
continued the hearing to April 18, 2007.
Respectfully submitted,
Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY:
LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair
Board or Commission: ❑ Plan commission
Document Type: 0 A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 03/21/2007
Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting
REGULAR MEETING
BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION
March 21, 2007
Discussion of Village Comprehensive Plan update
Chairman Ottenheimer called the meeting to order at 8:12 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers,
Buffalo Grove Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Commissioners present: Chairman Ottenheimer
Mr. Smith
Ms. Bocek
Mr. Khan
Mr. Stark
Mr. Cohn
Commissioners absent: Ms. Kenski-Sroka
Mr. Teplinsky
Mr. Podber
Also present: Mr. William Brimm, Village Manager
Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Bocek to approve the public
hearing minutes of February 21, 2007. All Commissioners were in favor of the motion and the
motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Cohn abstaining.
Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Bocek to approve the regular
minutes of February 21, 2007. All Commissioners were in favor of the motion and the motion
passed unanimously with Commission Cohn abstaining.
COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS
Mr. Pfeil stated that Commissioner Kenski-Sroka attended the Board meeting on March 19, 2007
and two projects were referred to the Commission. One is the property at 900 Deerfield Parkway
which was formerly the Konami building. It is a re-use for Cross Com that would move from
another location in the Village. It is also combining the Village owned property that the Village
took control of when the roads were realigned a few years back. The zoning lot is getting bigger
and a parking lot expansion is being proposed, which requires approval of a Preliminary Plan.
Mr. Pfeil further stated the Ventrella property at Deerfield Parkway and Milwaukee Avenue was
referred, and this will be a very challenging project with close to 25 acres of commercial and a
mix of uses.
DISCUSSION OF VILLAGE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
Commissioner Cohn stated he feels the boundary agreement between the Village of Buffalo
Grove and Lincolnshire denied the Village the opportunity to do the kind of planning he would
have liked to do. He feels he did not get the opportunity to impact the plan as extensively as he
could have due to the constraints of the agreement.
Chairman Ottenheimer stated he agrees in part and disagrees in part. He feels that when you
look at the global picture and part of planning also deals with our neighboring communities and
integrating both together. It is unfortunate that many times our neighboring communities may
have interests that are adverse to what we are trying to do. However, unfortunately sometimes
you need to compromise.
Commissioner Cohn stated he fully realizes that but wishes that more time had been spent on
talking about the boundary agreement during the planning process and it seems that was not
focused on enough.
Chairman Ottenheimer stated he understands that but it was not in the Plan Commission's
purview.
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Chairman Ottenheimer noted it would be a good idea to share the letter from James Leider on the
proposed Aptakisic Creek corporate park development with the entire Plan Commission.
Mr. Pfeil stated he would send that out.
FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE
Mr. Pfeil stated the next meeting will be held on April 4, 2007.
PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS—None
STAFF REPORT—None
NEW BUSINESS—None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Commissioner Cohn, seconded by Commissioner Smith and carried unanimously to
adjourn. Chairman Ottenheimer adjourned the meeting at 8:19 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY:
LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair