A new Glenview townhome development planned for property that has been vacant for more than a decade, as well as the rebuild of a long-time restaurant, received preliminary approval from the village’s planning board recently.
The Glenview New Development Commission on June 24 recommended Village Board approval, with some modifications, of a four-unit townhouse at Railroad Avenue and Linneman Street, along the Milwaukee District North line and just west of the village’s burgeoning downtown restaurant scene.
The board also recommended the passage of a request from Wendy’s to reconstruct its fast-food restaurant on West Lake Avenue.
The townhome project, consisting of four, two-story, three-bedroom units in one building, is the latest development planned for long-vacant properties across the village.
Over the last year and a half, the Glenview Village Board has approved several such projects, including 60 single family homes on the vacant Scott Foresman campus at 1900 East Lake Ave.; 20 duplexes (a total of 40 units) on a vacant 8-acre site at the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten Roads; and a 34-unit townhouse development on an empty lot at 1842 Lehigh Ave., as well as commercial developments on the former CVS Health corporate campus and a nearby former office site, both on Sanders Road, and at a vacant former motorcycle dealership at 2929 Patriot Boulevard.
The Railroad and Linneman site had been approved for a four-unit townhome in 2014, but that project never commenced and the land remained vacant, village officials said.
The property was previously the site of a single-family home and is surrounded by single-family and multi-family homes.
While New Development Commission members were largely supportive of the new townhome design, Commission Chair Steve Bucklin and Glen Tracy asked applicant and architect Thomas Budzik to consider a change in the color scheme of the building, which calls for some outer walls to be white, and others to be black.
“Is there something you can look at that isn’t so stark [like the] Arctic White and Midnight Black?” Bucklin asked. “Maybe a different shade would be nice.”
“We can definitely take a look at the color palette,” Budzik replied.
The applicant was also asked to revise the landscaping plan for the site.
“Aesthetically, I don’t think it’s very good, to be blunt about it,” Tracy said.
Each of the townhomes will have a two-car attached garage that is accessed from the north alley, officials said.
The project requires special approval from the Village Board because, under the village’s municipal code, multi-family residences must be located on lots with a minimum width of at least 80 feet, and the lot at Railroad and Linneman measures 75 feet.
No residents spoke on the project during the June 24 commission meeting.
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Separately, the commission also recommended approval of a new Wendy’s restaurant to replace the existing building at Milwaukee and West Lake Avenue.
The restaurant was built in 1987 and annexed into Glenview the following year, according to a commission memo.
The current building will be demolished and replaced with a new structure, as well as a reconfigured parking lot, according to plans shared with the village.
The Glenview Village Board must still vote to approve both projects, which are expected to go before the village trustees on July 7.
A final review of the plans for each project will also be conducted by the Development Commission prior to construction.