Glenview will sign off on Red Seal Developments’ controversial housing development because the village has no jurisdiction over, or connection to the site, but that doesn’t mean they approve of it.
Village trustees on Nov. 17 unanimously agreed with the Plan Commission’s recommendation to approve the plat, or official map of the proposed subdivision at Mission Hills, at Techny Road and Western Avenue in unincorporated Cook County.
“Glenview does not, and cannot, provide services” to the property, thus there are no grounds for Glenview to object to the final plat, planning director Jeff Brady said.
Brady also noted the Plan Commission’s explicit comment that its recommendation to approve the plat “should not be considered an endorsement of the proposal.”
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Red Seal’s project to build 137 residential units on a golf course aroused opposition from Mission Hills residents who say the project will worsen local flooding problems and harm their property values. Some residents filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court in May, claiming Illinois law prevents a severing of the property’s original planned unit development link between their 781 units and the golf course.
The subdivision was approved in February by the Cook County Board of Commissioners and won approval from the Northbrook Village Board in October.
Glenview took a look because its subdivision ordinance gives village officials authority to review projects outside, but within 1.5 miles of the municipal boundary to determine their potential impacts on Glenview’s infrastructure and municipal services.
Moreover, Brady said the Willow Road Corridor Agreement between Glenview, Northbrook and Prospect Heights, which governs who can annex what in this part of unincorporated Cook County, assigns annexation of this particular property to Northbrook.
Mission Hills resident Karen Jump said the original plat dating from 1972, when Mission Hills was initially approved by county zoning officials, required the golf course to remain as green space. Attorneys for Red Seal said that restriction expired in 1992, and that no such requirement remained in force after that year.
Trustee Scott Britton said he sympathized with Jump and her fellow residents.
“I personally do not agree with this,” but Glenview can’t kill the project, Britton said.
Trustees also gave unanimous preliminary approval to the 2015 property tax levy, or the amount the village will request from property tax payers next year for the village’s Corporate Fund and the Glenview Public Library.
The combined levy of $19.4 million is 3.63 percent more – about $681,000 – than last year’s levy, and will cost about $26 per taxpayer, village officials said.
The village’s portion of the levy, $11.4 million supports the Corporate Fund – which pays for basic services like fire, police and public works – and municipal, fire and police pension payments.
A public hearing on and a vote to adopt the 2016 budget, including the property tax levy, is scheduled for Dec. 8.
The 2015 property tax levy must be filed with the Cook County Clerk’s office by Dec. 29, and is payable on 2016 property tax bills.
Jon Davis is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.