Wheeling neighborhood hurt by bad planning
After years and years of trying to come up with a plan to redevelop the shopping center at the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Dundee Road in Wheeling the owner finally came up with a plan that the Plan Commission and Village Board approved.
This massive oversized building with a free standing bank, free standing distracting digital sign and lack of parking has caused problems for one of the oldest neighborhoods in the village. I do not dispute that the center is bringing in needed tax revenue but no consideration was given to the neighborhood which includes a grade school, older residents and nicely kept older homes.
A huge amount of TIF money as well as village-paid sidewalk construction was poured into the project but both bodies failed to see that the lack of employee parking would become the biggest problem for the neighborhood. A simple question of how many employees per shift in each of the stores, most importantly the huge international food market (which is certainly not a typical or neighborhood supermarket), must not have been asked.
Employees now park up and down the street behind the back side of the store. Unfortunately the village board does not feel there is a problem for the homeowners. This public street allows parking only on one side. Visitors or tradespeople have no place to park when going to one of the privately owned homes.
The 18-wheeler delivery trucks stop in the middle of the street and have to back into the shopping center to maneuver into the loading area causing traffic to stop and wait before they can get through. The cars parked on the street make this maneuvering difficult. I’ve seen smaller trucks and vans parked in the loading area’s fire lane and idling trucks waiting in the street until their is room to get into the loading area. No one seems to care what this is doing to this neighborhood.
The village used to have a slogan, “The Village with Feeling,” now it is “the Community of Choice”. Neither apply to this neighborhood.
Christine Dolgopol
Wheeling