Northbrook board hears latest proposal for Green Acres
If nothing else, discussions on the latest development proposal for the "Emerald of Northbrook" started stronger than the last two ended.
Twice since November 2019 the Northbrook Village board was left unenthused with plans for the 127-acre site of the former Green Acres Country Club, 916 Dundee Road, bounded by Lee and Morrison roads and the railroad tracks.
Neither of the plans, both titled Terra Verde, reached the formal application stage. The first plan's 800 units plus a commercial building on 6.5 acres was deemed too dense. The second plan, reviewed in August 2020, pared it to 581 units but underwhelmed trustees notably in how it failed to align with the Affordable Housing Plan the board had happily approved months before.
"I found that the most offensive," trustee Heather Ross said at the time, of 72 affordable units contained in two apartment buildings.
No offending words were heard Tuesday, though Erickson Senior Living's proposal for a continuing care retirement community consists of building up to 1,000 independent living units plus some 200 health care units, all in 10 interconnected 3- to 5-story buildings. GA Northbrook LLC owns the property.
Public comment set an affable tone. A member of the Green Acres Neighborhood Action Committee said the group had a positive meeting with representatives from Erickson and its counsel, DLA Piper.
She did note that she and her neighbors had moved near Green Acres with the "underlying assumption" that it would be zoned as Open Space. It presently remains that, but Erickson, a Maryland company, seeks rezoning to a Residential Specialty District.
The board was moved by the attitude of DLA Piper's Rich Klawiter, who stressed attempts to gain community feedback and receptiveness to affordable housing.
The Erickson proposal, presented by Michaela Kohlstedt, Northbrook's director of Development & Planning Services, and later detailed by Erickson's manager of development and land acquisitions, Scott Templin, included several bullet points referencing Northbrook's recently passed Climate Action Plan.
The proposal also conveys 40 contiguous acres on the east side of the property back to the village and contains 40 more acres of open space interspersed throughout the development.
All six Northbrook trustees and President Kathryn Ciesla appreciated the presenters' attitudes and parts of the plan.
"Civility matters, and I think collaboration matters," trustee Johanna Hebl said of the meetings with neighbors.
The buffer zone between the complex and its borders, the possible economic benefit, zero affect on school enrollments given its senior clientele, the development's density centered within the project and, of course, those 40 acres of open space all pleased the trustees.
Negatives they cited included increased demand on emergency services, an already dangerous traffic situation at Lee Road and at Dundee Road even with a proposed traffic light at the single Dundee Road access point, and how to handle affordable housing. The village plan includes a fee-in-lieu cost for a developer who does not provide affordable housing on-site, but trustee Joy Ebhomielen noted Northbrook's need for "physical affordable housing."
"It's way too dense," trustee Muriel Collison said.
It also would be the end of the Emerald of Northbrook.
"Once it's gone," Hebl said, "it's gone."
Ciesla mandated sustainability had to be satisfied to warrant a zoning change, and insisted the developer pay for an economic impact study. She also wants a traffic study. Ciesla also worried, as she did the calculations, about the impact on emergency services by an additional 547 annual 911 calls.
Despite the snags the Erickson plan earned a better review than the last two.
"If you choose, off to the Plan Commission," Ciesla said.