Lake Zurich trustees say proposed gas station looks awfully nice

After more than a decade of disuse, the former site of Omega Restaurant & Pancake House at routes 12 and 22 in Lake Zurich finally could see signs of life later this year after the village board on Tuesday approved a preliminary plan to build a gas station and convenience store there.

Now that the preliminary plan has been approved, the developer, Ohio-based Truenorth Energy LLC, will need to draft final plans and get them approved by the board.

But if the high praise members of the board gave the preliminary plan are any indication, the developers are on the right track.

"You did a great job listening to the plan commission and a great job listening to the trustees," Mayor Thomas Poynton told Ryan Howard, Truenorth Energy's chief operating officer. "I think you've created a new standard for the gas stations in Lake Zurich."

The plan calls for the developer to raze the current structure and build a Shell station with 12 fueling stations and a 3,500-square-foot Truenorth convenience store.

Several board members complimented the aesthetic choices made by the developers. Both the convenience store and the canopy for the gas pumps will be covered in brick, and the surrounding green space will have flowers and trees.

"It is hard to get excited about a gas station if you don't work for an oil company, but I definitely think you deviated from typical convenience store gas station design that you see," Trustee Jonathan Sprawka said.

If it is ultimately approved, the gas station will be the first of its kind on the corner. According to village documents, the corner has been occupied ever since the Route 12 highway was built in the mid-1940s, and since 1980 it has been a restaurant. But in 2006, a significant portion of the property's frontage with Route 12 and Route 22 was dedicated to the right of way to accommodate the widening of the intersection, and within a year Omega had closed down.

Community Development Director Sarosh Saher said the owner of the land has received several proposals, but none of those plans were submitted to the village.

Saher said they believe the gas station plan can work on the corner where the restaurant failed because the size of the property is better suited for a gas station.

"It is a very highly visible corner, one that is now of a size that doesn't allow a restaurant or other land use," Saher said.

Poynton said most of the community would like to see a restaurant there, but the price of the property was probably prohibitive.