Lake Zurich creates redevelopment rules

After nearly a two-year lull, Lake Zurich may begin to see revitalization activity in the downtown in the new year, village officials say.

Officials anticipate developers will start pitching projects once again after the village board approves new rules governing downtown redevelopment Monday night.

The regulations offer developers block-by-block guidelines for such items as acceptable building heights, uses, setbacks, parking and public space requirements, and the types of developments allowed in targeted segments of downtown.

"It's kind of like a how-to develop book in Lake Zurich," Village Administrator Bob Vitas said. "It's going to create a new direction in the manner in which downtown development is staged to occur. And I think in the future it will be used, frankly, as a model in other communities ... for other downtowns that need to be redeveloped."

Vitas said the village's original downtown redevelopment master plan didn't go into such detail.

That plan, created roughly eight years ago, called for razing and rebuilding nearly all existing structures along both sides of Main Street from Old Rand Road west to Lake Street. They were to be replaced with two- to five-story buildings with ground-level retail and condominiums/offices above.

Yet, the lack of detailed guidelines wasn't the reason the village's two initial redevelopment projects stalled in 2007. Officials attributed their demise to a housing market slump and problems obtaining financing.

Lake Zurich now has only a half-complete townhouse project along East Lakeview Place to show for having spent more than $32 million in total redevelopment costs. A second five-story condominium proposal aimed for a stretch of Main Street across from the lakefront promenade is dead.

The village bought numerous properties downtown with the money but has no funds left in its coffers to jump-start redevelopment. It is hoping developers come forward with plans and their own financing.

Barrington-based David Smith's Equity Services Group, Lake Zurich's new premier developer who paid to revise the master plan and draw up the new guidelines, will get first dibs on the most coveted project - a five-story lakefront commercial/condo building.

Early next year, Smith is expected to pitch his proposal for the site adjacent to the village's lakefront promenade, where Main Street now runs.

That plan would require realignment of Main Street away from the promenade to allow more public access to the lakefront, Vitas said.