Meeting Minutes
April 16, 2002
Present: Commissioners Di Iorio, Gould, Jenkins, L.
Phillips, and Walter, Village Manager Chen, Village Superintendent Block, and
Planner Kendig.
Absent: Commissioner Borawski, Coffin, F. Phillips, and
Secretary Acuna.
Commissioner Jenkins moved
that Commissioner Walter be appointed Chairman pro-tem for this meeting. Commissioner Di Iorio seconded the
motion. All Ayes. Motion carried.
Public Hearing called to
order at 8:10 p.m. by Chairman pro-tem Walter.
Village Manager Chen
indicated that the required notice was published in the March 28th
Daily Herald, was posted at the Village Hall, on the property, and a copy of
the notice was mailed to all owners of property within a 250 mile radius of the
perimeters of the subject property.
Hal Franke,
Piper Rudnick, indicated that there were approximately 118 acres between Rt. 83
and Diamond Lake Road that is currently zoned R-2, residential that the
developers are requesting it be zoned R-3
PUD to facilitate 133 detached single family homes. The petitioners have
had four prior workshops with the Commissioners and tonight the goal was to
walk through the plans and highlight areas raised for everyone’s benefit.
With him were the following
individuals:
Greg Collins, Project
Manager, Concord Homes
Frank Salathe, JenLand
Design, Inc.
Dan O’Malley, Bloodgood Sharp
Buster
Kyle Weber, Puglsey & La
Haie, Ltd.
Tim Doran, KLOA, Inc.
Ron Adams, Pearson, Brown
& Assoc., who would arrive later.
Chairman pro-tem Walter swore
in Franke, Collins, Salathe, O’Malley, Weber, and Doran.
Collins
started by indicating that Concord is a 10 year old company and they have built
homes in many different suburbs. This
development would contain 133 lots and a development scheme that was
appropriate for Long Grove. They
realized that there were larger lots surrounding the property and took this
into account when planning the different size homes. Furthermore, the development takes into account sensitive areas
to the north and south, significant wet lands and areas that are not buildable.
Salathe stated
the Stockbridge was to the south and lot sizes were at a minimum 1.2 acres,
Indian Creek Estates was to the west, Braeburn is also to west and zoned R-2
with 2 acre minimums, Towners is in northeast and zoned R-2. There is also a commercial area next to
Towners. Gross Point is across from
development and is in Vernon Hills and is zoned R-5. This development has 80 acres on the current Golf Club and has a
creek running north/south with hedgerous property to west, trees and
floodplains. The natural features of
the property are conservancy soils, wet lands, floodplains existing creeks, and
existing water. There are 42 acres of
natural resources on the total development.
The plans started with 133
lots with two different lot sizes. One
area has 18,000 square feet as the minimum lot size and the other area has
11,200 square feet as the minimum lot size.
The general concerns of the Plan Commission with the first plan were:
A. Lots were backing up to each other.
B. Not enough buffering between proposed development and
Stockbridge, Braeburn and Towner.
C. Buffering should be created in outlots managed by
homeowner association.
D. A walking path should be created between the two areas
of the development.
The developers second
plan simplified the entrance off of Diamond Lake, eliminated the island at that
entrance, and kept the entrances consistent with other entrances on Diamond
Lake. Additionally buffer sites were
increased between the proposed development and adjoining subdivisions, trails
were proposed to connect the subdivision, and landscape buffers were placed on
outlots to be maintained by homeowners association. The development had 23 lots that were over 18,000 square feet;
average size was 20,600, and 110 lots that were 11,200; average size of
13,040square feet.
The
third plan had only 3 lots abutting Stockbridge, minimum width of set back
along Stockbridge was 75 feet and the closest structure was 100 feet to south
property line. There were 24 lots of
the larger size and 109 of the smaller size.
The houses had a lot of details with some front loading garages; however,
the majority are side swing garages.
There would be a variety of set backs and plenty of variety in the
homes.
Weber spoke next of the landscaping plans.
Areas along Rt. 83 and Diamond Lake would have the required landscape
buffer and current berms would be enhanced with additional plantings. Additional areas of landscaping would
contain evergreen screening south of the property lines for lots 109 and 110.
Additionally, trees on protected list would be looked at to see what could be
preserved. The streets would have
evergreens, shade and ornamental trees to give variety to the area. The open space on the southwest portion
would be passive open space, which could be used for informal gatherings, and
in the central area there would be a tot lot in the middle of the open space.
The
entrance along Diamond Lake Road has been scaled down and there would be 2
smaller monuments along the side of the road.
Before final approval, the developers will walk the site along
Stockbridge to find weak spots and propose evergreens in such location to enhance
the screens between neighbors.
O’Malley indicated that there were six different home plans,
with five elevation plans for each home.
There are a variety of footprints with the average home size of 3300 to
3900 square feet. Four plans have 4
bedrooms and 2 plans have the master bedroom on the first floor. The building materials used on the front of
the house would be used on all three sides to comply with the Village’s
anti-monotony ordinance.
Doran spoke of the two artilleries; Rt. 83 was under the jurisdiction of IDOT
and Diamond Lake Road was under the jurisdiction of Lake County. Rt. 83 entrance is roughly located at the
current entrance to the Golf Club.
There will be a 50-foot radius going out at that entrance. Diamond Lake Road entrance is 900 feet north
of Stockbridge. The developers will
construct a right turn lane for this entrance and the southbound entrance will
consist of a right bypass. Volumes from
each site are not extraordinary.
All other individuals that
planned to speak were sworn in by Chairman pro-tem Walter.
Brian Piskun, 6722
RFD, Braeburn subdivision, wanted to know if the elevation of the surrounding
land changes, how will the septic fields in the area manage. Walter
indicated that he should see reductions in the water flow. Piskun
also expressed concern that there are 100-year-old trees in detention pond
and a larger set back from roots would be appreciated. He currently is looking at open space from
his home site and after development it will be a row of houses.
John Kyle,
189 Monnoth Court, Vernon Hills, lives across from the Golf Club. A stop light at his entrance never got
installed and an individual was killed near this location. There is another entrance 600 feet south
that has a lot of traffic and there are currently 3 entrances in a row. He feels that there is a need for a
stoplight in the area and was wondering if the developer looked into this
matter. Doran indicated that there needs to be a quarter mile between
lights and accident warrants need to exist before a traffic signal would be
warranted. He stated that the amount of
cars generated from the subdivision would probably not increase significantly.
John Kalmer,
Assisstant Village Manager from Vernon Hills, wanted to know why the entrance
to the subdivision was not lined up with West Moorland. This proposed development is creating
additional points of conflict on Route 83. Doran
indicated that the current entrance off the Golf Club was used as the
development would not be generating a significant amount of traffic. Collins
indicated that they would meet with IDOT to express the concerns of the
public to see what could be accomplished.
Kendig indicated that it
might make sense to move the entrance if warrants could support a traffic
light.
Margie Bell, 6723
RFD, wanted to know the types of buffers and their height. It was represented that the buffers would be
a mix of trees six to ten feet in height.
She would like to see more evergreen buffers on the west of the
development to be consistent with the buffer on the south. Collins
represented that that would not be a problem. She would also like to see a 65-foot easement between the
development and the subdivision on the west.
Adams arrived
and spoke on behalf on the developers.
The development would have a sanitary sewer that would be going by
gravity to the lift section. Here the
sewage would be pumped to Rt. 83 to the county sewer. The community well would be placed in the same vicinity. There would be shared component for the well
and sewerage and electric transformers would be combined into an attractively
designed building. He anticipates
getting 1,000 feet well depth; similar to that of the Preserves.
Mike McMalley, Countryside
Fire District, was told where the two dry hydrants would be and he seemed find
with their locations. The Developers
would like the water service to each home to be the same as the Preserves.
Mike Schrimmer, 6575 RFD, wanted to make
sure that there would be no street lights in the development, monuments would
not be lighted and each home would have their own mailbox. He would like to see 4 homes, lots 20, 19,
10, 11, have front loaded garages
and no walkout basements. Furthermore,
he would request that there be no second story decks.
Adams
indicated that he would like to see grading plans before he commits to not
allowing walkout basements, but he will agree to prohibit second story decks on
those lots.
Bell indicated
that she would also like only front loading garages by her lot.
Brett Zacher, 6714
RFD, indicated that he does not want to look at row of houses from his
property.
Lee Basset, 3713
RFD, was questioning the construction of berms and doesn’t want the screens to
be buckhorn.
Roger Peck, 6572, indicated that the hook up to Lake County is tentative.
Franke indicated
that they are working with the County for a new agreement and they do not
anticipate a problem with getting the hook up.
Carole Berkland
indicated she bought four acres south of the development and wanted to know
about the buffers.
Public hearing closed at
9:55p.m.
II.
MEETING GAVELED TO ORDER
Meeting gaveled to order at
9:56 p.m. by Chairman pro-tem Walter.
III.
MINUTES OF APRIL 16, 2002
Corrections:
Page 1, first line,
“Acting” removed.
Page 1, Item I., second
line, “made” removed, “temp” should be tem.
Page 1, Item I., seventh
line, “temp” should be tem.
Page 2, Item III., add
following: L. Phillips expressed
concerned about the overall density of the project. She was also concerned about the Braeburn subdivision that 2 lots
would be backing up to 7 lots from the proposed development and would like to
see the developers use some creativity to alleviate the density issue. Furthermore, she thinks that more angling of
the homes is in order to break up the monotony of the subdivision. Lastly, she is very concerned about the
safety of the Rt. 83 entrance, in particular the mountable median.
Page 2, Item III., fifth
line on page, “lake” should be capitalized and “simple” changed to
single.
Page 3, Item III., first
line on page, add Commissioner to first line, “sitting” should be “seating”.
Page 3, Item III., second
line, “as is” changed to as submitted.
Page 3, Item III., fifth
line “lookout” changed to look at.
Page 3, Item III., line 21,
“Southern” should not be capitalized.
Page 3, Item III., line 27,
“refereeing” changed to referring.
Page 4, Item C., line 11,
“have” changed to motion and add on May 7, 2002, after hearing.
Page 4, Item D., last line
removed “Acting” and changed “update” to provide.
Commissioner L. Phillips moved to accept the minutes
as amended. Commissioner Gould seconded the motion. All Ayes. No Nayes. Motion carried.
IV.
OLD BUSINESS
Indian Valley PUD
Kendig
discuss his memo. He indicated that the
developers took into account his second recommendation. Also, on the southern plans there is a slight
berm. The developers are bringing the
berm up steeply and then flattening it out; a flatter berm with vegetation that
will do better as a screening mechanism.
Kendig also indicated that we
should learn from what happened at Insignia Green; wooded lots were marked but
bricks were placed inside the red flags.
The Commissioners should think about obtaining a performance bond for
tree preservation. He also asked if the
Commissioners want a trail along the roads.
He would also like to see more current landscape plans and he wants to
ensure that the Village ensures that earthmovers stay outside of the tree
lines.
He also went on to state
that there might be a benefit to keeping the existing buckhorn and then phasing
it out over a period of 10 years. He
would like to go out to the area and take pictures when the buckhorn does not
have leaves and then when they do in order to develop a plan that will maximize
screenings between lots.
Kendig indicated
that he would like to see the entrance off of Rt. 83 moved and a traffic light
installed at that intersection.
Possibly a meeting with IDOT, Village of Long Grove, Vernon Hills and
the developer is in order to discuss this suggestion.
Commissioner Di Iorio asked who would put in the
individual mailboxes and Collins responded that Concord would. He would also like to see a deceleration
lane.
Commissioner L. Phillips wants to see lots 30, 31,
62, 63, 64, and 92 in a tree preservation plan. She likes the alternative plan very much; however, trees are not indicated
on the area off of Diamond Lake Road.
The final landscape plan should be drafted to protect trees. She would also like to see the buffer that
the neighbors on the south side have be replicated for those in the Towner and
Braeburn subdivisions. For Ms. Bell,
she would like to figure out what two homes need front-loading garages.
Superintendent Block reminded the Commissioners that
it must be in the ordinance as to those homes that are required to have
front-loading garages in order for him to enforce the Commissioners’ request.
L. Phillips would
like to investigate the drainage easement for the Braeburn subdivision but does
not think it is fair to require no walk out basements in the southern portion
of the development. Additionally, she
would like to see new building pads for lots 43 and 68, as there are no angling
of those properties.
Slathe
indicated that it is possible that angling of the homes could be done, but
another look at the plan was needed before a commitment could be made.
Commissioner Gould stated that she likes alternative
plan, commended the developers for taking Plan Commissioners comments into
consideration. However, she would like
to see convenants and landscape management plan and she questioned how traffic
could be prevented from using the emergency exit. It was stated that there would be a limited access gate and
Countryside Fire District would have an opticon switch to open the gate.
Gould also
stated that she would like to keep as many mature trees as possible. She would be in favor of moving the entrance
to Gross Point if a light was possible at that location. L.
Phillips agreed with the suggestion.
She also questioned if there was enough landscaping screen between lots
101 and 102, from the commercial developments, and recommended more
evergreens. She was concerned with
protecting the new owners.
Chairman pro-tem Walter asked developers to connect a
southeast trail to Rt. 83 proposed walking path. He suggested the developers talk to the Park District about such
path. He would also like the pathway on
Diamond Lake to connect to Stockbridge.
The path could be placed in the scenic corridor. Also the monuments should be made of real
stone and he likes Kendig’s suggestion of getting rid of buckhorn over ten years.
He would like to see more
green areas and suggested lot 15 and 16 and 61 and 62 could be shifted to
create such request. Walter indicated that Commissioner
Borwaski sent a request to the Commissioners that the landscape buffer plan
should be reviewed by the Village Planner.
Gould indicated
her preference of not allowing corner lot to have two entrances. Di
Iorio stated that inside load garages have a lot of paving and he would
like to see the developers keep paving to a minimum.
Chairman
pro-tem Walter indicated that the
commissioners would like to see revised plans before they make their
recommendations. They will discuss this
issue at their next meeting.
E.
VISION UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Chen informed the Commissioners that no one from the church was present to
discuss this matter and no new materials were received. She indicated that messages were left
informing them of the meeting, but that there may have been some confusion as
to whether or not they were expected them to come to this meeting. She was instructed to inform them that they
had until April 30, 2002 to provide the Village with a complete package if they
wish to have a public hearing on May 7th.
F.
BULK HOUSING REGULATION
Kendig summarized his memo to the Plan Commissioners and he
indicating the regulations were sensitive to landscape planted or on the
existing site. However, the model
contained a lot of variables, but that you could increase landscape to bring
building into compliance with the regulations.
L. Phillips felt that we were punishing people on wooded lots
since they did not have use of the trees in a protected section. There should be a happy medium between tree
conservancy and the cutting down of trees.
Gould would like to treat the
subdivision as a whole when considering tree preservation. Also she felt that it was not a good idea to
keep lot sizes less than 10,000 square feet.
Discussion on matter continued.
G.
LAKE COOK ROAD AND ROUTE 53 SUB-AREA PLAN
L. Phillips motioned to move Lake Cook Road and Route 53 Sub-area
Plan and undeveloped parcels discussions to the next meeting. Commissioner Gould seconded the motion.
All Ayes. No Nayes. Motion carried.
V.
NEW BUSINESS
VI. COMMITTEE
REPORT
A. Undeveloped Parcel Review
VII.
PLANNER’S REPORT
VIII.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
IX.
ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING
Motion to adjourn meeting
made by Commissioner Di Iorio. Seconded by Walter. All ayes. No
Nays. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 12:45
a.m.
Respectively submitted,
Patricia A. Chen