Thorntons, again.

For the last year, my husband and I have connected with a group of Mundelein neighbors opposing a large Thorntons gas station proposed at the northern entrance to our town. We learned about the cancer-related health hazards of gas station pollutants to nearby residents. We assessed other objections like increased traffic and pedestrian threats. We found that Mundelein already has enough gas stations - almost twice the Lake County average per resident.

We brought our concerns to our elected officials, civilly and repeatedly. The result? Crickets and paperwork. So much so that many local families thought our opposition movement had won. Not so. The developer has been working to tweak its "gas station" plan just enough to attempt to shove it through approvals this month. It is Thorntons - again. It's another gas station and residents don't want or need it, as we've expressed umpteen times.

Gas stations near homes are not safe - so we petitioned the village to amend the gas station code to put a common-sense 500-foot health-and-safety zone around any new gas stations in town to keep them away from homes, parks and schools. We provided the village with numerous peer-reviewed studies in support.

On Wednesday, the Planning and Zoning Commission will hear not only our petition, but also this outside developer's variance requests. If the village will only listen carefully and actually hear us, they will scrap this proposal for yet another gas station and support something greener and more local-business-friendly for one of our main "welcome to Mundelein" intersections.

Those in favor of this gas station are hoping we stopped paying attention, that we left at intermission. Well, we didn't. And we'll see them to remind them we - their voters, taxpayers and neighbors - demand better.

Sara J.W. Larkin

Mundelein