Keep your smiley face out of our town: Residents take on big boxes

An empty field surrounded by family homes, soccer fields, baseball diamonds and a shopping mall on West Dundee's northern border is the latest battleground in an ongoing fight pitting homeowners against big box stores in the Chicago suburbs.

Residents in the neighboring Tartans Glen subdivision are suing the village of West Dundee, Wal-Mart and the property's owners, hoping to halt construction of a 186,000-square-foot supercenter they say doesn't fit their community's character.

"There are so many quality of life issues like noise and light pollution, increased traffic and the increased crime rates associated with a 24-hour operation," Wal-Mart opponent Lisa Geisler said. "We just feel it is a poor choice for the parcel and for West Dundee in general."

The suit, filed in Kane County Circuit Court, claims West Dundee trustees erroneously granted the world's largest retailer special-use permits to build at the corner of Huntley Road and Elm Avenue.

"We want the village to follow its own rules and guidelines when it comes to special-use permits and variances," said Geisler, one of the plaintiffs named in the suit and co-founder of Dundee Neighbors, a community group opposing the development. "We feel our village board and commissions are catering to developers, rather than considering the input of the citizens who live here. West Dundee deserves better."

Wal-Mart representatives did not return repeated calls and e-mails for comment.

Dundee Neighbors say they are not opposed to Wal-Mart in general, but rather its plans to build a development of its size on a 30-acre site near homes.

Their fight is not unusual.

Across the suburbs, dozens of grass roots efforts have emerged to block big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target and Home Depot.

Familiar concerns like depreciating home values, increasing traffic congestion, pollution and inconsistent zoning are at the center of these fights.

In some cases, action from a village board has dealt a lethal blow to a development. In others, opponents have fought all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.

That was the case in Lisle, where residents won a lengthy legal battle to block a proposed Meijer store on Maple Avenue.

Residents sued the village in 1999 to invalidate the village's annexation and rezoning of property to make way for the big box store. Three years later, the Supreme Court upheld lower-court decisions voiding the village's actions, ruling that officials violated citizens' rights by not allowing them to quiz Meijer representatives at a July 1998 public hearing.

The legal wrangling finally came to a close in November 2004 when Meijer declined to appeal the decision.

The battle led to a divisive era in Lisle politics, causing an overhaul of the village board at the spring 2001 election, said Lisle Trustee Ed Young. Among the casualties was Mayor Ron Ghilardi, ousted after 12 years in office because of his support for Meijer.

"We changed Lisle for the better," said Young, who won election in 2001. "We changed the way municipalities hold public hearings for the better. People can ask questions and get answers."

Young said the fight, while expensive, was worthwhile.

"If you would have told us it would cost $200,000 and take almost 10 years, we would have walked away," said Young, a member of the anti-Meijer Citizens for Responsible and Appropriate Development in Lisle, or CRADL. "You don't know what you are getting into. But we are glad we fought because it did change Lisle."

In St. Charles last year, residents persuaded city leaders to block a Wal-Mart development, opposing the proposed 24-hour store over concerns it would have negative effects on their nearby subdivisions.

After delaying action on the retailer's proposal for almost a year, the St. Charles City Council voted to acquire through eminent domain part of the property Wal-Mart was targeting adjacent to Charlestowne Mall.

The land, officials said, was needed to build a road that had been in the works for more than a decade. The road would bisect the 30-acre site on which Wal-Mart was hoping to build.

Despite resident protest, local officials sometimes support a new retailer, attracted by their often significant potential for sales tax revenue.

In those cases, opponents have taken their case to another government power.

That's what happened in Wheaton.

In 2000, the DuPage County Forest Preserve District stepped in at the eleventh hour to forcibly take over a parcel of land in Wheaton, effectively blocking a Home Depot megastore at Roosevelt and County Farm roads.

Although Wheaton officials backed the plan, forest preserve officials purchased the land to extend nearby Belleau Woods, saying it could help protect the area's waterways, such as Winfield Creek.

Geisler said some residents are working toward a similar outcome in West Dundee.

"We will take this to the end," Geisler said. "We have the support of families throughout West Dundee and adjacent villages."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Big-box battles in the 'burbs</p> <p class="News"><b>Lisle:</b> Residents sue Lisle in 1999 over a Meijer store. State supreme court sides with residents three years later.</p> <p class="News"><b>Wheaton:</b> The DuPage County Forest Preserve District stepped in at the eleventh hour in 2000 to forcibly take over a parcel of land in Wheaton, effectively blocking a Home Depot megastore. </p> <p class="News"><b>St. Charles:</b> Residents persuade city leaders in 2007 to block a Wal-Mart development.</p>