Supercenter Wrong For West Dundee

The following is a Press Release issued by Dundee Neighbors.

WEST DUNDEE RESIDENTS: SUPERCENTER IS WRONG FOR WEST DUNDEE

A group of concerned residents in West Dundee have come together to form Dundee Neighbors, a coalition of residents and interested parties who want to send a message: development is an issue of deep public concern, and high-impact developments cannot be planned behind closed doors and then submitted to the public only as a formality. A 186,000 square foot, 24-hour Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Residents and neighbors are currently working to more comprehensively evaluate the plan, which includes requests for Special Uses and Variances and necessitates a road-widening.

What is clear is that West Dundee’s small-town, Main Street character could suffer irreparable harm by the opening of a 24-hour, mega-giant retailer in a residential neighborhood. The small retailers who typically prop up Main Street shopping could be discouraged, young families looking for a safe, quiet town will look elsewhere, and the quaint nature of our historic river town will be sacrificed for a quick fix to a budget gap caused by temporary economic conditions.

Dundee Neighbors has heard from dozens of residents in every part of the Village-from the river to Sleepy Hollow, from Huntley Road to the highway-that a high-impact development like a Wal-Mart Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Despite intimation and implications that the plan is a “done deal”, residents are eager to have their say and contribute to the public planning progress.

Besides its poor record for parking lot and customer safety [see: http://video.nbc5.com/player/?id=247256 ], a Supercenter is a less-than-optimal neighbor. The sheer size of the planned store-some 3.5x the size of a standard Wal-Mart discount store-is unacceptable with no transitional uses between itself and single family homes, both by common sense and by most planning standards. The abutting park and wetlands will also surely suffer. Wal-Mart is also planning taller lights-greater than the height of four basketball poles-and removing internal landscaping islands in favor of a vast parking desert with end-caps.

Tartans Drive, a residential road with homes that face the street, many of them with young children who cross the street to play in the park, will become a cut-through street for the heavy traffic intended for the huge retailer.

Dundee Neighbors are reaching out to residents across the village to encourage them to get all the facts and participate in the public process that is supposed to weigh ALL the evidence-not just the evidence provided by the developer. They can be reached at dundeeneighbors@gmail.com.

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A public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Randall Oaks Golf Club, 4101 Binnie Road, West Dundee.

W. Dundee Walmart Supercenter

This is likely of interest to readers …

West Dundee will be conducting a Planning and Zoning Hearing to discuss plans for a 190,000 square foot “Supercenter” (Walmart) at Huntley Rd and Elm Ave, northwest of Spring Hill Mall.

Here is the text of the “Legal Notice” pictured:

WEST DUNDEE ZONING APPLICATION #04-08

An application has been filed with the Village of West Dundee by WAL-MART Real Estate Business Trust for a Special Use for a planned development and preliminary plat of subdivision approval for this property. The property consists of approximately 31.00 acres and is generally located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Huntley Road and Elm Avenue.

The Applicant is requesting a Special Use to amend the Ordinance 00-31 granting a Special Use for a planned development in the B-2 Regional Business District of the West Dundee Zoning Code to allow for the construction of a retail store containing approximately 187,000 square feet. Special Use approval is also requested to allow outdoor garden sales in the Garden Center area, front sidewalk areas, and seasonal outdoor sales area. The Applicant is also requesting preliminary plan and plat of subdivision approval to subdivide the land to develop the approximately 187,000 square foot retail store. Two additional outlots will be created by this subdivision. The Applicant has requested variations from the zoning and sign codes in the following areas: signage number and area, lighting standard height, landscaping and parking lot design standards and the driveway curb cut width standards. More information regarding this application is on file with the Village of West Dundee.

The West Dundee Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on this application on Monday, April 28, 2008 at 7:30 P.M. at Village Hall, 102 South 2nd Street, West Dundee. All interested parties are welcome to attend.

For further information regarding this application contact Village Planner, Jennifer Becker (847-551-3805) (Jbecker@wdundee.org).

West Dundee Village Hall is located at Route 72 and Second Street, West Dundee.

There has been speculation for the last few years that the Walmart store located in East Dundee at Routes 72 & 25 would be closing. Officials for both the company and the Village have neither confirmed nor denied such speculations.

Impressions of the Village Fresh Market

I went to the Village Fresh Market for the first time last night, after hearing mixed reviews.

I have to say that I think this is a perfect addition to the East side.

Some complained about a limited selection of items … but, I believe folks have to remember that this is a fresh market. As such, everything seems to revolve around that … specializing in fresh foods: produce, meat and bakery items.

I really didn’t need anything but ended up grabbing up 4 pounds of fresh strawberries because of the sale price (2 pounds for $1.00!). They also had advertised 3 pounds of tomatoes for $1.00 but I didn’t need those. Other prices that I looked at, and I admit that I didn’t go around doing major price comparisons, seemed to be inline with that of Jewel, Woodman’s and Dominick’s.

The store looked very nice; everything stocked very well … neat and orderly.

Of its packaged products, the store carries a variety of what some might consider “Hispanic foods”. But the store sits in the middle of a predominately Hispanic area, and yet others will find most items they regularly buy as well — chips, soda, ice cream, condiments, milk, bread, ice cream, etc

The owner of the store said that he is doing about 20% better than he had anticipated on the opening. The lot is regularly filled with cars.

It was a long time coming, but I think worth it … especially for those like myself who like to cook fresh meals, rather than eating pre-packaged stuff.

Enough

Over the past several days, I’ve been trying to find out more about what really went on “behind-the-scenes” of Autumn Fest.

But, despite having received a good deal of information, I began to wonder something … if more time was taken to get to the bottom of this, what should the consequences be?

I mean, how serious is this, really, in the context of everything going on in the Village?

So what that the Trustees didn’t get official invites in their packets?! Perhaps in the future there should be no expectation to either send or receive written invites to such events. After all, the Board was made aware of the event, given specific details about the event, and it was a Village coordinated event. Hopefully eliminating written invites in the future, we can make sure that no one’s feelings get hurt if there is misunderstandings or miscues that occur.

And, is it really a big deal that Trustees Sigwalt and Teeter participated in the parade, but didn’t pay the $10 participant fee?

Community pride and desire to be involved should have compelled everyone on the Board to participate appropriately. That some didn’t speaks more about their true feelings, but do any of these things require disciplinary action? Nope.

So what the heck is the Board doing wasting more time at meetings arguing about it?

The same goes for this talk of disciplinary action over private conversations. One should wonder what Trustee Sigwalt’s plan is to monitor all conversations — emails, phone calls, letters, or even conversations around the dinner table — of the Village President and the Trustees; or any of the Village staff for that matter? But, the idea is so preposterous that it shouldn’t be raised again.

Now, let’s start dealing with the real business of the Village!