Buffalo Grove inclined to encourage green design

The Buffalo Grove village board is considering changes to its appearance plan, which would affect all businesses and residents in town doing work on their property.

The plan is used to provide standards to evaluate improvements in the village.

The new document encourages environmentally responsible design, such as a homeowner who recently replaced a roof with glass.

However, when the board discussed the changes Monday, trustees said they wanted it made clear that a proposal wouldn't be rejected if it weren't "green."

Trustee Jeff Berman said many businesses may be turned off by the notion that they'd be regulated to spend more money to build environmentally conscious buildings in Buffalo Grove.

"It's good to promote, but it's not good to mandate," he said.

Deputy Village Manager Ghida Neukirch assured the board that the intent was just to make it clear that Buffalo Grove was open to and encouraged those types of buildings but didn't necessarily require them.

The other major change in the appearance plan is the review process. The current plan calls for major and minor reviews, but the new document would include an administrative review as well as reviews for deviation from sign criteria and variation of a sign code.

Neukirch said the review processes are more detailed.

"We've also made this more responsive to business owners as well as residents," she said.

Trustee Jeff Braiman said he would also like to see the involvement of professionals into the reviews if staff members don't qualify to judge certain changes.

Neukirch said the associate planner in the village has an architectural degree, as does the plan reviewer.

The appearance plan was initially approved the board in 2003, and it took away an appearance commission to make it easier for businesses to get things done in town.

Braiman said he appreciated the staff looking at the plan once again to make it even more business-friendly.