One Winnetka surmounted another hurdle last week when the Winnetka Plan Commission approved its review of the developer’s final proposal. With the July 10 approval by the village’s zoning board of appeals, and similar approval July 20 from Winnetka’s design review board, One Winnetka’s last stop for final approval will be before the village council.
Once developer David Trandel can get information such as work phasing plans – required by his development agreement with Winnetka – back to the village, council might get the case in September, although that isn’t certain, Brian Norkus, the village’s assistant director of community development, said Tuesday.
Trandel said earlier this summer that he would like to start construction sometime in September or October.
Before reviewing plans by Trandel’s Stonestreet Partners and Winnetka Station LLC, plan commission chairperson Tina Dalman reminded colleagues and the audience that the commission had a limited scope of action.
It had to decide if the final One Winnetka plans were in “substantial compliance” with the preliminary plans Village Council approved in January, she said.
The commission also had to sign off on the completeness of One Winnetka engineering and other designs, including stormwater designs, Norkus said.
One issue over which the commission held no sway was checking on what permits the developer must seek from the Illinois EPA, Dalman said.
Wilmette resident Richard Sobel has raised the issue of IEPA permitting for the project at previous meetings, as part of his lengthy campaign to save the Fell building, designed by his late father Walter Sobel and deemed eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
Trandel intends to demolish the rambling building, which fronts on both Elm Street and Lincoln Avenue east of the Metra tracks in downtown Winnetka. He has repeatedly told Winnetka boards and commissions that the building could not successfully be integrated into his plan for a three-building retail-residential complex.
Sobel claimed that, if state EPA permits are required for the project, that could trigger a need for the IEPA to alert the state’s historic preservation agency for review. On July 25 he said village officials haven’t clarified how the developer must handle such requirements.
Winnetka village engineer Steve Saunders said Monday that Trandel would require an IEPA permit for the project because his plans include some extension of the village water system. Even so, the IEPA wouldn’t have to send the case to the preservation agency if the Fell building was already demolished, according to Lisa DiChiera of Landmarks Illinois.
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A demolition permit hold placed by the landmarks preservation commission on One Winnetka in June technically expires Saturday, but it’s unlikely that any One Winnetka permits will be issued anytime soon thereafter, Winnetka planning assistant Ann Klaassen said Monday.
During the commission meeting, Ben Schuster, the village attorney working for the commission, said the developer must obey all laws that might affect his project. He also said the commission’s mission is to consider what would rise on that property in future, not what lies on the property now.
Dalman told Sobel: “If the developer fails to get the necessary state permits there are consequences at the state level. But we do not have the purview to discuss those tonight. I understand your frustration, but it’s not in our jurisdiction.”
Mary Nelson, chief operating officer of the Hadley School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, whose property abuts where One Winnetka would rise, asked if One Winnetka would institute audible safety alarms at the entrances to One Winnetka’s parking garages, past which Hadley students and staff must travel between the Metra station and the school. She also asked that One Winnetka agree to regular meetings with Hadley officials during construction.
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