Golf teed off over Glenview plan

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Updated: January 22, 2012 8:15AM

A culture clash is coming to the northern suburbs. It pits Glenview, population of more than 43,000, against tiny neighbor Golf, population of about 450.

Golf sits just off Glenview’s southern border, a residential refuge amid forest preserves and country clubs. If there’s a libertarian paradise anywhere in the Chicago area, it’s in Golf, which has a mostly volunteer local government and buys its water service and fire protection from adjoining towns.

Glenview loves its sales taxes, but in Golf there are no businesses in the corporate limits. Residents like it that way, preferring their tranquility, meandering streets and large lots to suburban sprawl, which is still an easy drive away. And they’ve got the money to keep sprawl somebody else’s issue.

Unless somebody does something they can’t control, which is the concern with a proposal in Glenview. A developer wants to build a grocery-anchored shopping plaza and a car dealership near Waukegan and Golf roads, just beyond Golf village limits.

The 19 acres in question includes an old Avon Products Inc. warehouse at 1601 Overlook Drive, on Waukegan road’s east side. Overlook is a main entry point into the village, and the residents are worried about traffic.

Mary Bak, director of planning and economic development for Glenview, said shopping mall developer Regency Centers has a contract to purchase the property. She said it proposed a zoning change for its project only last Friday, so officials haven’t had time to evaluate it.

The proposal calls for the grocery to be a Mariano’s, the new chain now hitting Chicago in a big way. Regency Centers has placed a Mariano’s in its Riverview Plaza at 3330 N. Western.

Bob Avedisian, village administrator in Golf, said his community objects not to the nature of the development, but its layout. He said the traffic impact on Golf could be minimized if the grocery is moved to the property’s south end along Golf Road, with the car dealership being built along Overlook, near existing dealerships. Property on the Waukegan-Golf corner that used to have a car dealership is not included in the development.

Regency Centers executives did not return calls this week.

Avedisian said he expects meetings between the towns will occur in January. “Glenview has been generous to include us in their process so far,” he said.

Bak said Glenview could schedule a public hearing in February and noted that a Glenview subdivision also is close to the project.

It’s a reminder that land use disputes don’t occur only in urban areas where different interests try to control each patch of dirt. They happen where there’s more elbow room, too, or possibly more room for sharp elbows.

HOUSING PACKAGES: Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed three financing packages to help affordable housing deals. They are:

♦ A $5 million loan, fee waivers and $1.3 million in tax credits to the nonprofit Stateway Community Partners for 132 units on the 4000 to 4200 blocks of South Oakenwald and Lake Park. It’s a $51 million project, the second phase of construction in the vicinity, that calls for an 81-unit mid-rise and 53 units in three- to six-flats.

♦ Up to $10 million in housing revenue bonds to rehab the 97-unit Bronzeville Senior Apartments, 460 E. 41st St. The developer is a partnership of Peoples Co-Op for Affordable Housing and Bronzeville Housing and Community Development Corp.

♦ A $1.2 million loan, plus fee waivers and $415,000 in tax credits to Sarah’s Circle Inc. for the acquisition and rehab of a four-story building at 4836 N. Sheridan. It will be supportive housing for the chronically homeless.

APARTMENT SALE: The 144-unit Old Orchard Apartments at 10100 Old Orchard Court in Skokie sold for $11.55 million in a deal brokered by Essex Realty Group Inc. Essex Principal Matt Welke said that after a couple years of bank-owned properties defining the market, “Well-located and better quality assets are beginning to trade again.”

The buyer, Mosaic Properties and Development LLC, plans a renovation. The seller was Illinois Apartment Solutions LLC.

DOING THE DEALS: The Westin Michigan Avenue hotel, 909 N. Michigan, is taking advantage of the slow period that hits hotels here each winter to launch a $7 million renovation of its banquet, ballroom and meeting spaces. The plan is to be ready for the spring when downtown conferences and weddings pick up. VOA Associates is the architect for the work. … Northwestern College, not to be confused with a similarly named institution in Evanston, leased 10,500 square feet at 9501 Technology Blvd., Rosemont. … Under a lease Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. negotiated for the Chicago Transit Authority, 10 Redbox movie rental kiosks will appear at L stations around the city. They are already in place at the Wellington Brown line stop and the UIC-Halsted Blue Line stop.

AND LASTLY: Have a Merry Christmas, everyone. Thank you for reading. Now that the winter solstice is here, may gradually longer days lift everyone’s spirits.