2004-02-18 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan Commission
Document Type: 0 A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 02/18/2004
Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting
REGULAR MEETING
BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION
February 18, 2004
Proposed Buffalo Grove Bank & Trust,Annexation with zoning
In the B-1 District, rezoning of one parcel from R-4A to the B-1 District
And approval of a Preliminary Plan, southwest corner of Buffalo
Grove Road/Old Checker Road—Workshop #1
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. Smith
Ms. Bocek
Ms. Kenski-Sroka
Mr. Khan
Mr. Teplinsky
Mr. Stark
Mr. Cohn
Commissioners absent: Mr. Samuels
Also present: Ms. Amy Kurson, Greenberg Traurig
Mr. Richard Rushkewicz, Northbrook Bank& Trust Co.
Ms. Diana Melichar, Geudtner Melichar
Mr. Timothy Doron, KLOA
Mr. Steve Trilling, Village Trustee
Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner
Mr. Greg Summers, Associate Planner
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Khan to approve the minutes of the
public hearing of January 7, 2004. All Commissioners were in favor of the motion and the
motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Teplinsky abstaining.
Moved by Commissioner Kenski-Sroka, seconded by Commissioner Smith to approve the
minutes of the regular meeting of January 7, 2004. All Commissioners were in favor of the
motion and the motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Teplinsky abstaining.
COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS—None
PROPOSED BUFFALO GROVE BANK & TRUST, ANNEXATION WITH ZONING IN THE
B-1 DISTRICT, REZONING OF ONE PARCEL FROM R-4A TO THE B-1 DISTRICT AND
APPROVAL OF A PRELIMINARY PLAN, SOUTHWEST CORNER OF BUFFALO GROVE
ROAD/OLD CHECKER ROAD—WORKSHOP 91
Ms. Any Kurson of Greenberg Traurig introduced the bank team and stated Buffalo Grove Bank
and Trust has consolidated three lots at the southwest corner of Old Checker Road and Buffalo
Grove Road. At this time two of the lots are in unincorporated Lake County and they have a
business classification. They are proposing to put a bank on the site and demolish all of the
existing structures. In the interim the bank will operate a temporary facility in the
unincorporated parcels. Buffalo Grove Bank & Trust will be a branch of Northbrook Bank &
Trust and the Wintrust Financial network backs both banks. This is important because even
though Buffalo Grove Bank& Trust is a community bank that will be served by local people for
the local community, it is backed by a five billion dollar financial network that consists of nine
banks and 34 branches and Wayne Hummer investments and certainly have the financial
wherewithal to make a community bank work.
Mr. Richard Rushkewicz of Northbrook Bank & Trust noted that service is the big reason for
needing another bank in the community. He stated the Northbrook Bank & Trust is already the
second largest bank in Northbrook in less than three years. He stated they are already a
$280,000,000 bank. He stated they did this by offering programs from the cradle to the grave.
They have programs for junior savers, small business programs, charity programs and various
others. They feel their service to the community is exemplary and superior to all other banks in
the area. For their employees they have a family atmosphere, which translates into better service
for our customers. He noted they would be bringing in new property tax after the annexation for
the unincorporated lots. They will clean up a nondescript corner with a first class architecturally
significant building that will be a low traffic generating business.
Ms. Diana Melichar of Geudtner & Melichar stated the site consists of three different lots. Lots
1 and 2 are located in unincorporated Lake County while lot 3 is already in Buffalo Grove. This
is a long narrow site and is littered with five buildings, several of which are either
non-conforming or substandard. Some of the other problems are the three curb cuts along
Buffalo Grove Road, the multitude of impervious surface area and well and septic on the two lots
in unincorporated Lake County.
Ms. Melichar stated they have located the parking on the north end of the lot and locating the
building further to the south. In addition they hope to clean up the curb cuts located along the
road. They are also trying to get the building away from the neighboring properties. On the
existing site plan there is actually one building that is over the property line and into the
residential zone. Elsewhere on the existing site they also have some landscaping issues.
Ms. Melichar stated the proposed site shows a professionally landscaped buffer that goes all the
way around the perimeter of the property. The parking will be at the northern end. That portion
of the lot is very narrow and a building there would not allow for any parking. They are also
trying to put in a 6-foot high masonry wall that would run along the residential area. It is a very
attractive wall made out of stone and brick and would have some lighting on the bank side of the
property. The drive through is put at the portion of the lot that flares out. They are trying to
keep the drive through hidden from the street.
Ms. Melichar noted the amount of intensity of use on the site is really not much greater than
what is on the site now. She noted they would be reducing the building massing on the site by
22 percent. They will also be reducing building coverage on the lot by 45 percent. They do,
however, have more impervious surface because they have more parking requirements. She
noted they would be proposing detention for the site. Ms. Melichar noted they are certainly
improving the site in terms of landscaping. Many of the properties now have no landscaping.
Ms. Melichar noted the proposed building is between two distinct areas; the town center and the
municipal area. She noted they would try to keep their architecture low at 30 feet because they
are adjacent to the residential area. She further noted they will try to build something between
the top quality of the municipal area and the commercial areas in order to make some sort of link
between the two areas.
Ms. Melichar noted they are requesting three variances. One of them has to do with parking.
They are providing 26 spaces on the lot right now and they are requesting a variance only in
terms of the square footage requirements. They are required to have 38 parking spaces, which is
way more than this type of banking requires. They are requesting to provide all of the parking
for the facility without counting where there would be no bodies anyway such as the vault. The
other variance is for stacking and the last variance is for the landscape buffer. They are required
to have a 25-foot landscape buffer. Because the Lake County Department of Transportation is
requiring them to put in a turn lane that cuts into the landscape buffer they only have 15 feet
instead of 25 feet.
Mr. Doron stated he was most concerned about how this intersection worked. He was watching
very carefully to see if the stacking would block the bank's driveway. He stated banks are a
relative benign traffic use. At their peak hour there are on average about 25 trips in and 25 out.
He got this data from regional banks like LaSalle, Northern and Fifth Third. Access was of
prime importance so they spoke to the Lake County Department of Transportation who stated
they are to design their left turns in accordance with an extension of the left turn at Old Checker
and they would grant full access off of Buffalo Grove Road. He noted this site would not
preclude any further development to the site. The left turn will be consistent with the left turn at
Church Road for the new Concord development on the east side of the street and it will be in a
back to back situation with the left turn lane at Church Road.
Mr. Doron noted this is essentially a one-way circulation. The site is constrained, as there is
very little depth to the first two lots. The third lot gives them the depth to orient the drive
through away from the street. There will be one-way circulation in and out with a two-way
re-circulation aisle. You will be able to circulate into the drive through lanes or a by-pass lane
and circulate back out onto Buffalo Grove Road or go northbound back and re-circulate onto Old
Checker. He stated they have 45-degree angle parking stalls with a 13-foot wide aisle to back
out in.
Mr. Doron stated this is a very good use for this corner because anything else that would go on
this corner would probably be a higher intense usage. This works very well for parking and
landscaping. He noted they are asking for a variance for the parking. He noted they went to four
other banks both regional banks and their facility in Northbrook and found the highest parking
accumulation count was 16 at any given time over a 12 hour period. Therefore, they feel that 26
spaces are more than adequate. As far as stacking he noted many towns require an enormous
amount of stacking and yet banking has changed over time. They divide stacking up by lane and
they rarely have found anything even approaching a car per lane. They are under a car per lane
in actual demand and they do not need that kind of enormous stacking as was noted in reviewing
regional banks.
Mr. Doron noted in summary that they have great access off of Buffalo Grove Road. They were
thrilled that they could plead their case successfully to the Lake County Department of
Transportation. They have excellent access off of Old Checker and they will eliminate the
situation of backups into the intersection. They have good site circulation and 45 degree angle
parking.
Ms. Kurson noted one of the most important benefits of the site plan is that they are reducing the
number of curb cuts and they are maximizing a tight and difficult site.
Commissioner Stark asked for confirmation that westbound Old Checker will not be able to turn
left.
Mr. Doron stated that is correct and it will be done by means of the median and signage.
Commissioner Stark asked if it is a big problem to have people turn into the left turn lane on
Buffalo Grove Road and instead of turning into the south end for the bank, they continue on to
turn left on Old Checker.
Mr. Doron stated that could happen, as there is nothing that will prohibit them from continuing
on in the turn lane up to Old Checker. This, however, is the way Lake County has asked them to
design it.
Commissioner Stark asked what the proposed hours will be.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated lobby hours would be 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and drive up hours from
7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday hours in the lobby will be 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and drive up
from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Commissioner Stark asked how many employees they will have.
Mr. Rushkewicz noted that initially he would anticipate 4-6 employees. He noted the last thing
in the world they would want is disgruntled employees due to a lack of parking.
Commissioner Stark stated he has found 15 banks in Buffalo Grove, which seems to be
somewhat excessive for this size community.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated that in all of their Wintrust markets every one of their banks has gone to
number one and two market share. He stated they believe in letting the market decide where
people want to bank and they are confident they will be a player in this town.
Commissioner Stark asked what products and services will be offered besides traditional saving
and checking accounts.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated they are a full service commercial bank and they will have the checking,
savings, money markets, and CDs. There will be Wayne Hummer Investments and potentially a
representative may be on the premises. Home equity lines of credit will be available as well as
commercial banking services for the small and medium sized businesses. Trust services will be
available on an appointment basis initially.
Commissioner Stark asked what the relationship is between Wintrust, Wayne Hummer and
Buffalo Grove Bank& Trust.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated Wintrust is their holding company and the business plan is that each of
their ten banks operates totally independently. Wayne Hummer is a fully owned subsidiary of
Wintrust and each of the bank's goal is to have representatives there to provide that complete
range of services to their customers.
Commissioner Stark asked why they are interested in building a brick and mortar facility when
so much of banking these days is electronic either through the mail or direct deposit.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated they think they can have the best of both worlds and the personal touch at
the facility is very good for business.
Commissioner Stark asked where the wrought iron fence would be.
Ms. Melichar stated they do not yet have the exact location, as they will need to be careful due to
the fact that they will be getting rid of the well and septic at the end of Manchester Drive and
looping the water main over to Buffalo Grove Road.
Commissioner Khan stated he took a head count of banks located on Dundee Road between
Buffalo Grove Road and Wilke and came up with 11 banks.
Commissioner Khan asked how much of a parkway is left after the dedication is made for the
right of way for a right turn lane.
Ms. Melichar stated it is somewhere between 22 plus 13 feet at the larger end.
Commissioner Stark stated he heard a comment from the Village Engineer that there is only a
six-foot right of way and therefore they might want to consider putting the sidewalk partially on
the private property.
Commissioner Khan noted a slight concern with the back to back left turn lane at Church.
Mr. Doron stated it is a slight concern but fortunately there are two lanes in the thru direction so
you have a by-pass lane on Buffalo Grove Road. He noted the advantage to this for Buffalo
Grove is that as that site develops you cannot get another access drive further south off of
Buffalo Grove Road.
Commissioner Bocek stated she is concerned with the internal queuing. During peak hours there
are roughly 25 cars in and out. The peak hours are also the peak hours for both streets so getting
out of the site will be more difficult and she can see cars queuing into areas that people are trying
to get out of parking spaces. Once they are committed there is no where for them to go to get off
the site.
Mr. Doron stated it could happen and may happen once in an hour but would not be all that
much of a hassle.
Commissioner Bocek asked if the building needs to be quite so large.
Ms. Melichar stated there are five people on the first floor and on the second floor when they
max out the entire building. Then there are two fire stairs on either end and they take up quite a
bit of space so they cannot make the building much smaller.
Mr. Doron noted the good thing about the traffic signal is that it does provide gaps which peak
hour users would be able to take advantage of. There will be some internal stacking but it will
be minimal.
Chairman Ottenheimer asked if the new condos going up across the street had been taken into
account for the traffic study.
Mr. Doron stated yes. He noted they provided an 8 percent growth in traffic a year for other
development.
Commissioner Teplinsky asked how many cars would be in line before the by-pass lane.
Mr. Doron stated they could get five more cars there and probably six cars. He noted their data
finds less than a car per lane.
Commissioner Teplinsky asked if there was any attempt to acquire the fourth parcel to the south.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated they are in contact with the people and it remains to be seen.
Commissioner Teplinsky noted he likes the traditional look of the building.
Commissioner Cohn asked if they had checked as to whether the dry cleaner had used cleaning
solvents on the property and, if so, have the environmental questions been examined.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated they have checked and they had a certified licensed environmental
engineer do the tests and everything came back fine.
Commissioner Cohn asked if there had been any thought given to pedestrian traffic as there will
be people going to the post office and the bakery and he would like to try to encourage
pedestrian visits to businesses.
Ms. Melichar stated they have the sidewalks on two sides of the exterior of the property. In
addition they put a landscaped walkway through the center of the property going down towards
the front door so that pedestrians are kept off of the driveway areas.
Commissioner Kenski-Sroka asked what percentage of the bank's transactions are electronic and
what percentage are at the drive up.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated the trend about 6-7 years ago showed it was about 55-60 percent was
electronic and it was projected to go to about 70 percent. Yet, people still want to come in and
talk to a banker about a loan or bring their kids in and that is where they have made a niche.
Commissioner Smith noted he also likes the building elevations. He also agrees with
Commissioner Bocek that during peak hours there will be a problem. He asked how the left turn
north would be handled on the level F Buffalo Grove Road.
Mr. Doron stated the way the level of service study is done is three ways. When they measure it
they do so on the entire approach, then they measure it on each movement and third they
measure it on the entire intersection. The F is only for the left turn movement. He stated the left
turn movement out is going to sit and wait.
Commissioner Smith stated that with the condos across the street we are really adding a lot of
traffic and we are under estimating what is going to happen on that road and he has a real issue
with that one turn.
Mr. Doron stated he is estimating 5-6 left turns and level F means a 40-second delay. Even if he
is wrong by 100 percent and there are 12 left turns, it means one turn every 5 minutes. If two
come at once they will sit and wait a minute to make the turn.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated at the Northbrook facility they have an exit for people who want to head
west on Shermer and the traffic signals do give you a clear. If someone is really cautious and
does not want to go across a lane of traffic to go westbound on Shermer, they will take a right
and go around the block.
Commissioner Smith asked if there is any concepts or ideas of what might go into the south
parcels.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated at this stage discussions have been preliminary. They might envision
working with the Village to see what might work.
Commissioner Smith asked what would happen in the future when banks start to close down or
consolidate and the Village is left with empty buildings.
Mr. Rushkewicz noted that in a free market economy you would be left with competition
recognizing and rewarding those who are giving the best service, fair in their rates, who are not
gauging with nuisance fees. He does not know what will happen with the real estate but things
are always changing.
Commissioner Stark noted he is also concerned with people's brand loyalty in terms of the
viability of this bank.
Mr. Rushkewicz stated when people get good service they tend to go to those facilities.
The Commission agreed another workshop meeting was necessary.
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT—None
FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE
Mr. Pfeil stated the next meeting would be held on March 3, 2004.
PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS—None
STAFF REPORT—None
NEW BUSINESS—None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Commissioner Kenski-Sroka, seconded by Commissioner Smith and carried
unanimously to adjourn. Chairman Ottenheimer adjourned the meeting at 9:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY:
LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair