After a half-hour of intense debate, Highwood aldermen tabled a crucial vote on a major downtown development on Tuesday night after the developer asked city leaders to postpone their decision.
Developers with Gart Partners first urged Highwood City Council to approve a six-month extension on an exclusive memorandum of understanding that expires in April. Their plan is to build a six-story luxury apartment building with a bottom floor for offices and retail at the 300 block of Sheridan Road.The discussion came during the council’s committee of the whole meeting.
But during an at-times heated conversation, which included outbursts from residents unhappy with the plan, some of the aldermen insisted that they needed a clearer concept of what the apartment building would look like before committing to an extension.
“I can’t in my heart of hearts tell the people, ‘This is the way we want to go and this is why we’re doing it,’ if I can’t believe it myself yet,” Alderman Eric Falberg said.
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Ultimately, instead of pushing forward without support on the council, developer Doug Johnson of Gart Partners withdrew the request for the extension vote on Tuesday night.
“This is way too important to push for something we don’t have consensus on,” Johnson said. “And it came to us tonight loud and clear tonight that we have no consensus among the members and we have to work more toward that.”
If the project were to eventually move forward, it could mean the displacement of some longtime businesses, such as the Curry Hut, Maria’s Bakery and Teddy O’Brian’s pub, as well as the Highwood Bocce Club, a private club on city-owned land.
City officials have said they would hope to keep all of those business in town and that the bocce club could potentially be relocated to another property. Bocce club officials have so far declined to comment.
In previous interviews, Johnson acknowledged the challenges of negotiating with property owners. For some, the land has been in their families for years. A city council vote for an extension would send a clear message of support that could help with those negotiations, he said Tuesday night.
“It is a critical path that the city is behind a developer doing a project of this size,” said Lee Wolfson, also a developer with Gart Partners.
Alderman Brad Slavin spoke in support of the six-month extension, saying Highwood badly needs additional revenue and such projects should be considered.
“Highwood can’t continue to exist even at its modest level of services that we provide,” Slavin said. “I don’t know where I can look at (City Manager Scott Coren) or anybody in the city in the eye and say we have to make further staffing reductions in order to afford these things.”
The project is in line with the city’s recently created transit-oriented development plan, which calls for greater density downtown that, in theory, could help support the local businesses and provide more tax revenue, City Manager Scott Coren said in previous interviews.
The building proposed development would include between 240 and 280 apartment units and more than 180 enclosed parking spaces open to the public, according to developers.
Questions remain, though, on whether the community supports a project of that size. Leaving the meeting, Ron Ori, a former alderman and longtime resident, said Highwood needs more property owners – not a greater density of renters.
“I have a lot of concerns about this development,” Ori said. “The negatives greatly outweigh the positives.”
After the meeting, Johnson said his group would continue working with Highwood’s appearance review and finance committees to try to assuage City Council concerns. The new goal is to come back before the council for an extension before the current agreement expires on April 7.
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