Lake Zurich candidates debate downtown plans

Lake Zurich’s trustee candidates differ on whether the downtown area should be turned into a destination for shoppers and diners or if it should take a different, lower-profile form.

Five people are running for three seats on the board. All three seats carry 4-year terms.

The hopefuls are: incumbents Tom Poynton and Dana Rzeznik; newcomers Mark Ernst and Jenny Talley; and former trustee and mayor John Tolomei.

The candidates were asked about the downtown district during a recent interview session at the Daily Herald’s Lake County office.

The downtown business district near Route 22 and Old Rand Road has been the focus of a lot of discussion in recent years, and the area has been declared a special taxing district to raise money for redevelopment, but not a lot of actual redevelopment has been done.

The village board recently cut ties with a developer who had grand plans for the area but couldn’t produce financing for a proposed multimillion-dollar project. Now officials must decide whether they want to find a new developer to handle the task, split the area into multiple projects or go in a different direction.

Tolomei, who was a trustee from 1995 to 2005 and the mayor from 2005 to 2009, supports construction of buildings that combine first-floor retail shops with residential units.

The residents would support the stores beneath them, he said.

Eclectic businesses are needed, Tolomei said, stores “with a unique draw.”

Additionally, developers should take advantage of the lake that gives the town its name. It already is a big attraction, and new restaurants located near the water could use the lake to draw customers, he said.

Talley, an executive with New Age Transportation, said village officials have struggled to attract successful restaurants to the area. People deserve more than chain restaurants, she said.

“I think we need to have a better mix, whether it’s downtown or on Rand Road,” Talley said.

Talley would like to see more restaurants at the lake, too, including some with outdoor seating.

The downtown area might not ever be as successful as Lake Geneva in southern Wisconsin, “but I think it could get close to that by putting in unique restaurants and different types of shops,” she said.

Rzeznik, a trustee since 2009, doesn’t believe a downtown district filled with boutique stores will work. She also opposed Tolomei’s concept of condominium or apartment buildings with first-floor retail operations and complained about seeing “rows and rows” of empty storefronts in Arlington Heights, Palatine and other communities.

Instead of focusing on retail, Rzeznik said she’d like to see upscale rental residential properties in the area. She also thought the area could host art fairs, farmers markets and other temporary attractions.

Ernst, a business consultant, does not favor turning the downtown area into a destination shopping district. Downtowns died in the 1990s, he said, and taking that approach in Lake Zurich would be “a flawed assumption.”

People would rather shop at big-box stores that sell less-expensive goods than regularly patronize an area filled with boutique stores, Ernst said.

Ernst believes the village should encourage development plans that would bring restaurants, professional offices, condominiums and apartments to the area.

The offices would provide lunchtime customers for the restaurants, he said.

Poynton, a trustee since 2007, also questioned whether a downtown district with a single developer is the right way to go. The most recent plan was “overly developed,” he said.

“I don’t know that we can ever be (a) destination place, but we can be functional,” Poynton said.

He cited downtown Libertyville and downtown Barrington as successful models.