Lawyer in Pain over Delay in Development at the Old Ford Dealership

Remaining issues have not yet been settled by the Wilmette Plan Commission for the hulking 5-story commercial building being planned directly across from City Hall, and the Wilmette Life is reporting that the developers aren’t happy. “We are hurting . . .” said the developer’s attorney about the delay, although it should be noted that they developer failed to file his documents in a timely manner for the meeting. Previous plans by the developer have included subsidy by the village of Wilmette, a parking garage, and now the latest—happily not loved by the Commission: a driveway through the development which would dump cars onto Green Bay Road from the property.

From the story in today’s Wilmette Life, it appears that the Wilmette Plan Commission may have a sincere interest in doing the right thing at the old Ford dealership on Green Bay Road. They are asking the developers, led by principal Kevin Pochter, to make certain changes (which the developer did not care for) to the supersized structure to attempt to make the building acceptable to the Comission.

Residents of the village living west of Green Bay should be particularly concerned about the new driveway plan if they want to have any chance of reaching the train to downtown in a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand, residents of the village east of Green Bay Road might be concerned about the effect of increased traffic on children or elders walking from their homes to the library.

Link to list of previous posts on this property is here.