Deerfield officials called off a Thursday night Plan Commission meeting and rescheduled it for May 11 after so many residents crowded into Village Hall they feared moving forward might violate village code or the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
Many area residents have voiced opposition to commercial real estate company Bridge Industrial’s plan to redevelop the 101-acre site of health care company Baxter International’s headquarters into an industrial business park. The site, technically in unincorporated Lake County, lies across the street from the Thorngate subdivision in Riverwoods.
Representatives from Bridge Industrial were expected to present its proposal Thursday for Deerfield to annex the land and rezone it to allow for construction of two large industrial buildings, as well as a recreational facility to be operated by the Deerfield Park District, which their proposal says “expressed a high level of interest” in the idea.
Thorngate resident Caron Blitz said there were hundreds of people at Village Hall on Thursday night as opposition has quickly risen up against Bridge Industrial’s plans for the site.
“We’re just beginning to do research,” Blitz said Friday morning.
Blitz said the main meeting and overflow space were full, and people were standing “shoulder-to-shoulder” in parts of building. She added that residents want the rescheduled meeting to be held later, in early June, so they have a reasonable amount of time to review hundreds of pages of planning documents that were recently made public.
In that time, a petition — calling on the village of Deerfield and its Plan Commission members to reject the proposal — has garnered more than 3,300 signatures.
The planning documents project that more than 600 trucks could enter and exit the proposed industrial business park on a typical day, causing an estimated 10% increase in traffic along Saunders Road. The Baxter headquarters site sits directly across from the Thorngate subdivision, and shares a traffic signal where residents enter and exit at the intersection of Saunders Road and Thorngate Lane.
Attempts to reach representatives of Bridge Industrial or Baxter ahead of Thursday’s scheduled meeting were unsuccessful.
Deerfield assistant village manager and director of community development Andrew Lichterman said village officials, “did our best to accommodate as much overflow” as they could and acquired additional chairs, but the Plan Commission members decided to continue the matter once they determined all attendees could not meaningfully participate in the meeting.
According to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, members of the public present for a meeting of a public body must be able to, “hear all discussion and testimony and all votes of the members of the body,” except in unusual cases, in which the public body must make alternative arrangements and provide adequate notice to the public.
Lichterman confirmed the village is working to identify a suitable site to host the May 11 meeting. He added that the Plan Commission is unable to continue a meeting for more than 30 days, and must meet before the date in early June requested by residents.