Northbrook residents, board pan 98-unit townhouse development
Northbrook village trustees this week concluded a 98-unit townhouse development was too dense and out of character situated among single-family neighborhoods.
Residents packed the village board room Tuesday to oppose M/I Homes of Chicago's Henley Woods plan at the site of the dormant Our Lady of the Brook Catholic Church, 3700 Dundee Road, next to the Charlemagne and Carlyle Court neighborhoods.
Our Lady of the Brook started merging with St. Norbert Parish in 2017 and held its final Mass Oct. 10, 2021.
The building and its sizable parking lot have been mainly unused since.
On May 5, the Archdiocese of Chicago authorized M/I Homes to work with Northbrook on redevelopment. The plan called for 19 buildings of between four and six units each - 10 two-story buildings and nine townhouse buildings, three stories each.
It would build a road from Dundee Road north to Anjou Drive, construct several other streets servicing the townhouses, and create a 1.6-acre detention pond.
Trustee Heather Ross said she read 120 emails from residents before she stopped counting. They were not having it.
“Tonight we ask our village board to clearly and unequivocally communicate to the developer that we don't do spot zoning in Northbrook and that this property will not be rezoned to R-8, the most intensive zoning category,” said Jason Risdon, a Charlemagne Homeowners Association board member. “We support reasonable redevelopment at this location in a manner that is consistent in character of the surrounding neighborhood.”
Trustee Muriel Collison praised M/I Homes' Sterling Place townhouse community at Techny and Shermer roads, but criticized Henley Woods' potential impact on schools, its compatibility and density, and hoped the developer would “start over.”
Ross suggested a mere 20% reduction in units “is not going to do it.”
Village President Kathryn Ciesla urged the developer to continue meeting with the residents “and come up with something that works for everybody.”