Critics turn out against widening Weiland Road in Buffalo Grove

Almost 100 residents packed into the village of Buffalo Grove’s council chamber Thursday night to listen to a presentation about the Weiland Road expansion project.

Audience members booed some comments by village officials during the four-hour meeting, the second community forum held as part of the planning process for the project.

Preliminary plans are to widen Weiland Road to four lanes from Lake-Cook Road to Aptakisic Road and to add a new bike lane by making the median smaller. The plans also call for Prairie and Weiland roads to connect north of Aptakisic and for Aptakisic to be rerouted and widened at its south end to line up with St. Mary’s Parkway at Buffalo Grove Road.

“It’s in the investigation stages of the review, and it’s a long way from any positive or negative decision,” Village President Jeffery Braiman said.

He said that since no plans have been approved, there is no estimated budget for the project yet. According to posters put up by the village, the design that would be presented to the village board would not be completed until February.

“I do understand that’s what they’re saying, but every meeting that we’ve had seems like they’re more interested in proving their points than listening to what we have to say,” said Diane Goldstein, who lives in the Mirielle subdivision. Her yard backs up to the proposed extension of Prairie Road.

“You’re taking people’s homes; you’re taking people’s ability to turn left off Miramar onto Prairie and the safety of our children playing in the backyard, and none of that matters as long as it affects the traffic flow on Aptakisic,” Goldstein said. “That traffic flow directly affects our backyards. ... It’s much more than we bargained for when we bought our homes.”

Goldstein is one of about 20 volunteers who are organizing an effort against the project. The group handed out buttons to those on the way to the meeting that said “NO Weiland Prairie expan$ion.”

The buttons direct people to the cause’s Facebook page, “Stop the Weiland Improvement Project, Buffalo Grove, IL,” which had 110 “likes” as of Friday evening.

Some people in the audience booed when they were told their request for stoplights to make it easier and safer for children to cross Weiland could not be granted because the road didn’t meet federal traffic standards for stoplights. The village had spotters watch how many children crossed the street to see if it would meet the standards, even delaying the presentation on the project to make sure spotters could count on sunny days.

But residents weren’t mollified.

Howard Derdiger lives in the Prairie View subdivision and was one of those who wanted a light at Newtown Drive and Weiland Road. Derdiger and others said the number of children crossing the street was low because it’s so dangerous.

“I wouldn’t let my children cross the street at Newtown and Weiland,” said Derdiger, whose daughters are 17 and 14 years old.

Village Manager Dane Bragg said the criticism of the project are primarily from residents in neighborhoods around the road. Village Clerk Janet Sirabian voiced a similar sentiment.

“There’s a lot of people (in the meeting) saying, ‘Nobody wants it.’ There are 43,000 people in the village — some of them may want it and need it,” she said. “We need to look at what’s the benefit for the entire population and not just one neighborhood.”

More information on the Weiland project is available on the village’s website at vbg.org/index.aspx?NID=670.