2004-11-03 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan Commission
Document Type: 0 A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 11/03/2004
Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting
REGULAR MEETING
BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION
November 3, 2004
SJS Realty, proposed medical office building, 300 Deerfield Parkway
Northeast corner of Buffalo Grove Road/Deerfield Parkway
Rezoning and approval of a Preliminary Plan—Workshop #1
Discussion of Village Comprehensive Plan —Workshop #3
Chairman Ottenheimer called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers,
Buffalo Grove Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Commissioners present: Chairman Ottenheimer
Mr. Samuels
Mr. Smith
Ms. Bocek
Mr. Khan
Mr. Teplinsky
Mr. Stark
Mr. Cohn
Commissioners absent: Ms. Kenski-Sroka
Also present: Mr. Marc Siegel, SJS Realty Services
Village Trustee Bruce Kahn
Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner
Mr. Greg Summers, Associate Planner
APPROVAL OF MINUTES—None
COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS
Commissioner Teplinsky attended the Village Board meeting on November 1, 2004. He noted
that Prestige Auto Leasing has been referred to the Plan Commission concerning redevelopment
of the property at 88 Dundee Road just east on National City Bank and CVS.
SJS REALTY, PROPOSED MEDICAL OFFICE BUILDING, 300 DEERFIELD PARKWAY
(NORTHEAST CORNER OF BUFFALO GROVE ROAD/DEERFIELD PARKWAY —
REZONING AND APPROVAL OF A PRELIMINARY PLAN—WORKSHOP #1
Mr. Marc Siegel of SJS Realty stated the proposed development is located on the northeast
corner of Buffalo Grove Road and Deerfield Parkway and is presently zoned R-3 with a Special
Use. He stated they are proposing development of a 48,000 square foot, two-story medical
office building. Mr. Siegel stated they are seeking a change from the R-3 zoning to either B-3 or
O & R zoning. He noted that it is not their intent to use the rezoning to change the use.
Mr. Siegel stated the plan proposes a full access driveway on Buffalo Grove Road and a right-in,
right-out driveway on Deerfield Parkway. He stated detention would be at the pond to the east
of the site and noted that preliminary engineering shows the existing pond will provide sufficient
detention for this development.
Mr. Siegel further noted that parking would be based on five cars per 1,000 square feet of area.
He stated that no variances would be necessary except the minimum size of an area zoned B-3 or
O&R..
Mr. Siegel stated that preliminary elevations show a building that will be residential in character
to reflect the neighborhood surroundings.
Commissioner Samuels asked if the project would start immediately or, if not, when it would be
started or if it required having commitments from doctors first.
Mr. Siegel stated development of the site would not begin until the spring. He also stated that
tonight's discussions and comments would determine when and if they have discussions with
any doctors.
Commissioner Samuels asked if the existing pond would also be used for the proposed
residential development east of this site.
Mr. Pfeil stated the existing pond may be connected to the proposed Jacobs Homes site, but the
residential development has to provide required stormwater storage on its own site. He said that
he would check with the Village Engineer concerning the design details.
Commissioner Teplinsky commented that he hasn't reached a conclusion concerning the use of
this site for a medical office. He noted that the site is surrounded on all sides by residential
neighborhoods and therefore the proposed building elevations should be compatible with the
residential setting.
Commissioner Stark asked if the developer is aware of the Deerfield Parkway expansion and
asked what impacts this may have on site parking and driveway access.
Mr. Siegel stated they are proposing a right-in and right-out off of Deerfield Parkway and full
access with a left turn lane south on Buffalo Grove Road and all setback requirements to be met.
Commissioner Stark asked if there is a market for this large of a medical building.
Mr. Siegel stated they are seeing more medical office building needs but this building might not
be solely medical.
Commissioner Cohn asked if the developer had experience building such a medical office in a
residential surrounding.
Mr. Siegel stated they have experience in building medical offices but have never built any in
such residential surroundings.
Commissioner Cohn asked if there has been any contact with the residents.
Mr. Siegel stated no, not as yet.
Commissioner Samuels stated he believes that a building of this size and mass should be
addressed as an office building rather than a residential house. He stated it may be more
appropriate to have an interesting building with some character that is an office building. He
stated he would prefer to see an office building that has something to say on this lot.
Chairman Ottenheimer asked if the offices would be rental or condo.
Mr. Siegel stated they have not as yet decided that question.
Chairman Ottenheimer noted that a tree survey and preservation plan should be provided in the
materials for the next workshop. He also noted that the area east of the site will probably be
getting a residential development and therefore the more trees and landscaping that can be
provided, the better. He also stated that he would prefer to see the appearance for the proposed
office building as more residential in design because of its location adjacent to residential areas.
He further noted that this is a very busy intersection and Deerfield Parkway is scheduled for
widening. He said that a traffic study is necessary to ensure that the proposed office use will be
compatible with the adjacent road system, including safe and efficient access.
Commissioner Bocek asked about leaving the zoning as R-3 with a Special Use.
Mr. Siegel stated that whether it is an O & R zoning or B-3 zoning, the concern was that going to
a B-3 there could be some uses that could be backed into down the road and noted the Board
would more likely be more pleased to look at an O & R zoning than anything else.
Chairman Ottenheimer asked what approach would be more flexible - a special use in O&R or
B-3 or even a PUD. He noted that he is looking at the big picture and asked kind of potential
uses could come in after the initial approval for the office building.
Mr. Pfeil noted that the current R-3 Special Use does not allow the proposed office use. An
amendment to the Zoning Ordinance would be needed to create a special use in residential
districts for offices. He suggested that this would be a major change in the Village's approach to
residential zoning. He commented that the O&R zoning approach appears to be the best choice
since it would not alter the current structure of residential zoning nor allow intense retail uses.
O&R zoning would clearly designate the property for office as the primary use. The alternatives
of B-3 with a very restrictive PUD or O&R zoning both have the issue that a variation of the
minimum district area would be needed to accommodate this site. Neither district allows a
separate zoning area less than 5 acres; O&R is actually a 6 acre minimum.
Commissioner Samuels asked about the possibility of changing the ordinance to make the
minimum area smaller. He asked if that would be appropriate as we have a built out situation in
the Village.
Mr. Pfeil concurred that the Village will be faced with proposals for smaller parcels where office
infill might be an appropriate use and that 6-acre O&R standard is going to be difficult to
achieve in some areas.
Commissioner Samuels stated he would not oppose doing that as an alternative to having to
grant a variance.
Commissioner Bocek asked why the 5-6 acre minimum was established in the first place and are
we opening the possibility of having issues now with lowering the minimum lot size
requirements.
Mr. Pfeil noted that it might indeed be more complicated than just changing the minimum area.
The district was originally intended to accommodate larger scale developments. He commented
that the structure of the O&R District will need to be reviewed in terms of permitted uses, bulk
standards and buffering requirements adjacent to residential properties.
Chairman Ottenheimer noted that for the next meeting the following items should be addressed:
1. Tree survey and preservation plan
2. Traffic and parking impact study
3. Building elevations
4. Landscaping
5. Comments from Lake County DOT relative to ingress and egress
DISCUSSION OF VILLAGE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN—WORKSHOP#3
Mr. Pfeil reviewed the demographic overview for the Village and pointed out some of the
housing distribution changes between 1980 and 2004. One of the notable things is that the
predominant character of the Village is still single family detached although single family
attached has increased numerically and is a healthy percentage of the Village's housing stock.
Mr. Pfeil noted the Commission might want to probe some preliminary assessments of land uses
in the 1998 plan versus things that need to be rethought. There are some parts of the Village
where it probably needs to be probed as to whether or not the land use recommendations should
change.
Mr. Pfeil gave the Plan Commission an overview of some parts that may need to be probed
including:
1. Dunlo Highlands area— single family detached shown on the master plan and there is
some thought that perhaps we could expand some of the commercial area on Dundee Road and
Buffalo Grove Road and expand south into the residential part of Dunlow for a certain distance
2. Chevy Chase Business Park on Lake Cook Road and Milwaukee—there is a thin strip of
land on the northwesterly corner still designated for office which might do well with some
residential concepts instead. Also perhaps it should be looked at to establish a bigger
commercial area which would mean a lot of transition from existing residential to commercial.
3. Deerfield and Milwaukee—The Santucci property has been zoned commercial and not
developed since it was annexed in 1990.
4. The Milwaukee Avenue corridor—The east side in the area north of Busch Parkway
shows as commercial on the master plan but there may be some serious constraints concerning
flood plan.
5. Commerce Court at Deerfield Parkway —Converting industrial uses to mixed-use
proximate to the railroad station is a possible planning scenario.
6. Weiland Road and the Schwaben Center area— The unincorporated the western field has
been discussed as a potential site for senior citizen housing which may not be necessary since
facilities such as Belmont Village and Sunrise Assisted Living have been built at other locations.
Alternative uses other than senior housing should be considered for the west Schwaben field.
The Schwaben Center should be considered for possible land uses other than the current banquet
facility and playing fields.
7. Aptakisic Road/Leider Greenhouse area has some undeveloped land which is part of the
greenhouse property and the area directly to the west and north across Aptakisic is all industrial
in the current master plan. There have been other ideas floated by developers and this part of the
Village needs to be rethought.
8. Aptakisic Road/Weiland Road— Some commercial area is shown on the master plan but
the predominant designation is for single-family detached.
9. Aptakisic Road east of Buffalo Grove Road—The Didier property and other areas on the
south side of Aptakisic are all designated for single family detached.
10. Prairie Road and Main Street is designated for commercial and the Powernail property is
designated as Industrial. Recent proposals for these areas have included commercial and
residential concepts.
11. Prairie Road/Port Clinton Road—The Stancliff property is still agricultural and planned
by the Village for single family detached development.
Chairman Ottenheimer noted that what was designated as residential a long time ago may not be
appropriate for residential now because zoning is a changing and evolving concept.
Commissioner Samuels stated the problem he has with the strip on Milwaukee and Lake Cook
Road is the traffic which is horrendous. He feels that trimming that from office to commercial
would make it worse and he is reluctant to do that. He asked if the development on the east side
of Milwaukee at Riverwalk was proceeding.
Mr. Pfeil stated there is nothing advancing on that. It seems that the residential would have the
most feasibility at this point.
Commissioner Samuels noted he had a great deal of concern with the traffic that would be
generated by that development. He recommended staying away from changing this use. He
agrees on leaving the area at Deerfield Parkway and Milwaukee as commercial. He noted there
may be some more commercial potential around Buffalo Grove Road and Aptakisic. He does,
however, agree on keeping most of the Didier property as single family residential with possibly
taking out the corner for commercial. He noted that even a gas station in this area may be good.
Commissioner Cohn asked if the Village has a mixed use zoning classification.
Mr. Pfeil stated yes. He noted it was drafted at the time Riverwalk North was being reviewed a
couple of years ago. The regulations could possibly be improved and made more flexible if
necessary to accommodate high-quality development proposals.
Commissioner Cohn stated the areas that are zoned commercial now that have been unable to be
developed commercial over time probably should be rezoned into something like the mixed use
development. He stated he is specifically thinking about the Prairie View train station, the area
around the Deerfield Parkway train station and part of that corridor. He stated that anything that
is an underutilized commercially zoned area or an under performing commercial area should be
looked at closely for mixed use development. If you put residents in those areas and you have
the commercial there, it will enhance those commercial areas. He stated that we should focus
less on creating new commercial areas and focus more on trying to enhance the commercial
areas we have with expanded mixed use development and the train stations make a lot of sense
for that.
Chairman Ottenheimer noted he felt the median home values in the report seemed somewhat
low.
Mr. Summers stated the median values of the homes listed on the sheet are based on all the sales
in the prior year from the real estate transfer taxes and are probably the most accurate statistics
they have.
Commissioner Samuels noted the values are not based on assessed values.
Chairman Ottenheimer stated that made sense.
Commissioner Cohn stated that this process should perhaps send out some kind of survey to the
residents to elicit feedback.
Chairman Ottenheimer noted that the Park District, school districts and others had been invited
to participate in the planning process.
Commissioner Cohn stated he meant more like sending out a survey form similar to what the
Park District had done.
Chairman Ottenheimer stated he did not feel that was a good idea because there is a certain
amount of knowledge and expertise that goes along with planning and zoning and he is afraid
that all the Village would get is just a wish list without any consideration for whether a use fits
or not.
Trustee Kahn stated most residents do not have a clue as to who is responsible for what and ask
for things that are not within our purview. When you have a lot of people who are uninformed
as to areas of responsibility or historical nature affecting development, you get into a lot of
problems.
Commissioner Samuels noted this is supposed to be a public process not just to have a public
hearing and some input from members of the public is not a bad idea. He further noted that some
interest might be generated by creating a short list and publishing it in the Village Newsletter.
Commissioner Smith stated he was involved in the last Comprehensive Plan meetings along with
many leaders of the community who have some knowledge of the Village. He stated he feels
that those people should be invited to the meetings and that might be better than just opening it
up to the public at large.
Chairman Otteneheimer stated his agreement. He further noted the public would certainly be
invited for the public hearing. He stated he feels the process has worked well in the past and
might just be somewhat more challenging this time because of the lack of available spaces for
development in the Village. He noted it might be a good idea to start addressing tear downs
which will happen in the near future.
Commissioner Samuels stated he agrees that the Prairie View area does offer possibilities for
mixed use development and should be encouraged.
Mr. Green noted it might be helpful for the Commissioners to read the NIPSI 20/40 report which
has many interesting features such as how to connect parts of communities. NIPSI programs
Buffalo Grove in the third tier of the four centers they enumerate. Buffalo Grove is being
serviced by places such as Arlington Heights, Northbrook and Schaumburg. These are things
that may help in the planning process because they are tools that commercial developers will be
using as they make their plans in the future. Therefore, if the Commission makes an area
commercial that is not consistent with what the rest of the areas surrounding Buffalo Grove may
be targeting, the Commission may have to assess the values of some of those decisions. Another
thing that must be looked at is population trends. The commuter train is now a reality and it
paints a new picture for population direction and how to try to direct the population growth in
order to potentially help ease commuter issues. There are other issues such as shared children
households which has created some of the pressure for townhomes. There is also more and more
discussion about group housing for seniors. There are things that the Commission may want to
either look or direct in the Comprehensive Plan for processes to begin to look at the zoning on
PUD's. There are sections that may benefit by examination over the next 5-7 years.
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT—None
FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE
Mr. Pfeil stated the next special meeting will be held on November 17, 2004.
PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS—None
STAFF REPORT
Mr. Pfeil stated Edward R. James is proposing a somewhat downsized plan by modifying the
rowhome area. Eight dwelling units would be eliminated and a larger central open space would
be provided at the south end of the rowhomes. The developer is evaluating if they should
continue with the project. and they would appreciate any feedback the Commission would offer
about the proposed changes.
Commissioner Teplinsky stated he felt it is an insignificant attempt and he is not impressed with
the changes.
Commissioner Smith stated the number of units has never been an issue for him. Taking away a
few units will not alleviate the traffic situation there.
Commissioner Cohn stated they have the right concept but the wrong piece of property.
Commissioner Bocek stated she agrees with the other Commissioners and it does not appear to
be a significant change from the past plan.
Commissioner Stark concurred.
Commissioner Samuels stated the site should be left as Industrial.
Commissioner Khan stated he does not feel the changes are a sincere effort to reduce the density.
NEW BUSINESS—None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Bocek and carried unanimously to
adjourn. Chairman Ottenheimer adjourned the meeting at 8:48 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY:
LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair