Mt. Prospect rejects rezoning to preserve open space near Westbrook School

Citing the need to preserve open space, Mount Prospect trustees have denied a request from Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 to give Westbrook Park, near Westbrook School, a residential zoning.

"Having open space is valuable - and on some level, it's rare," Trustee Paul Hoefert said at Tuesday's village board meeting. "The (current conservation recreation) designation was put in place for a reason, and I think it was a good reason."

In March, the school submitted plans for improvements to the Westbrook School site near Busse and Central roads. They would involve expanding and reconfiguring the parking lot, installing a new driveway connection to Central Road, and stormwater detention.

The district also applied to consolidate seven parcels on the property into one lot that would be granted a single-family residential zoning.

On Tuesday, the village board agreed to rezone the parcels at 101 and 103 S. Busse Road but rejected the request for 1420 and 1421 W. Central Road.

School district officials said the requests were primarily "a matter of housekeeping," according to village documents, and indicated there were no plans to develop the site as housing. However, village trustees said keeping the zoning as is would prevent that from changing in the future.

"A developer could easily find (the site) attractive," Trustee John Matuszak said.

Trustee Steven Polit said the land becomes even more appealing to developers if it gets access to Central Road.

"The danger also exists that that property could be sold by the school district for a project that had nothing to do with the schools, that had nothing to do with a park," Polit added. "Because as soon as you gain access to Central Road from the north half of the property, now everything from the school line north becomes property that could have a project on it."

District 57 officials said the rezoning would enable them to fully use the property for the district's educational mission, including an expansion of the building if necessary.

Trustees said the district could always come back to the board with a specific request if it decided to expand.