Wheeling cuts required storm water storage for developer

The Wheeling Village Board Monday approved a reduction in the amount of compensatory stormwater storage a developer will need to provide for property in a flood plain along Lake-Cook Road.

Not long ago Prairie Park had high-profile financial woes, but Mark Smith told the board current sales mean the project could run out of inventory unless new development starts within three months.

The board voted 4-3 to reduce the stormwater requirement for 17 acres on the southwest corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Lake-Cook Road and 7.4 acres directly west of Prairie Park, which is at Wolf Road and Milwaukee on the south side of Lake-Cook Road. Trustees David Vogel, Robert Heer and Mary Krueger voted against allowing the reduction.

Prairie Park is in a tax increment financing district and has received millions of dollars in money from the district. In return, condominium owners are now paying property tax on land that was previously undeveloped.

Wheeling requires that anything built in a flood plain should provide 1.5 times as much water storage as the construction site, but requiring just the same amount of storage is more common, said Mark Janeck, director of community development for the village.

In fact, Village President Dean Argiris said the municipality should consider reducing the requirement across the board.

Janeck said that very few residents of Wheeling would be affected by any increase in water sent down the Des Plaines River, and allowing the storage reduction would not conflict with any regulatory agency.

The 17 acres is a mixed-use commercial area, according to a petition filed for the Smith family with the village, which also said a reduction in the storage required for that site would save the developer $1.25 million. Two condominium buildings are planned for the smaller site, the petition said.

Smith said Prairie Park has fewer than 30 units remaining for sale, and the company has signed three contracts in December with three more pending.

“We could be sold out in five months,” he said. “We got caught in the market, and the last building sat for four years. If we are going to move forward with continued construction we need to jump into it in the next three months.” Sheila Schultz, former village president, told the board there are still too many questions remaining, and that allowing the reduction in stormwater storage could lead to flooding.