Wilmette trustees have approved M & R Development’s five-story mixed-use project at the former 611 Green Bay Road.
The July 28 vote provided the final procedural building block in an agreement the village started forging with M & R last September to developed property owned by Wilmette.
Both Village President Bob Bielinski and Village Attorney Michael Zimmerman emphasized before the vote that the project – 75 apartments to be called The Wilshore at the newly addressed 607-617 Green Bay Road – received preliminary approval on April 28, when trustees agreed with M & R’s request for planned unit development zoning.
Trustees also agreed at that time to lower the price on the property from $4.1 million to $3.1 million. In return for the lower price, M & R cut the proposed building’s size from six stories and 95 rental units.
Area neighbors and the village’s Plan Commission objected to the height and density of the original proposal during hearings in March and April.
“The Village Board effectively embraced the plan at that point,” Zimmerman told trustees July 28 of the April 28 vote. “The ordinance in front of you documents all the plans and formalizes them, so that (Community Development Director John Adler) can enforce them.”
Although the April 28 approval was technically a preliminary approval, Wilmette’s revised zoning code gives Adler the right to review the development plans and decide if any changes that trustees wanted included were actually incorporated in the plan.
As long as Adler certifies the final document, Zimmerman said, the board can approve it with no further action.
“I can tell you that Mr. Adler and his team did an exhaustive review,” Zimmerman said.
Adler assured the board that all the changes it wanted from M & R for the former 611 Green Bay Road site were completed, most prominently the drop from six to five stories, a shortened roof parapet, a more architecturally attractive western wall, and better pedestrian routes from the building’s 10 commercial parking spots to Green Bay Road.
More Top Picks Best Split King Mattresses
Two final design changes added to the project by M&R did not substantially change the plan that trustees approved three months ago, Adler said. Those included allowing electronic signs on the building to be internally rather than externally lit and permitting sign coverage slightly larger than the 30 percent limit allowed in the zoning code.
No members of the public spoke about the project before board members unanimously approved it July 28.
Trustee Julie Wolf voluntarily recused herself from the case, because her husband is working on a separate M&R development, she said.
Twitter: @PioneerKathy