Green Acres is the place to be for a good drink, apparently.
The Northbrook Village Board of Trustees meeting on May 14 began with a statement about Green Acres and ended Tuesday evening with being green.
Northbrook Village President Kathryn L. Ciesla opened the meeting with a message to the new owner of the former Green Acres Country Club site.
The 127-acre parcel (916 Dundee Road) was sold to the DuPage (County) Water Commission (DWC) for $80 million to the surprise of Northbrook village officials. The DWC plans to develop piping systems to deliver Lake Michigan water to its one million DuPage customers. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/05/10/eyeing-water-independence-dupage-water-commission-buys-former-northbrook-golf-course-for-80-million/
The news of the May 6 transaction shocked many over lost tax revenue from a projected data center. A senior living facility was also among the failed pitches when that developer suddenly pulled out in May 2023.
The most recent Green Acres proposal came when village trustees unanimously approved last Dec. 12 a resolution for a non-binding pre-development agreement with owner GA Northbrook LLC.
The Green Acres proposal then included 10 acres of promised land for a new fire station along Dundee Road, more than 50 open space acres to the west earmarked for possible purchase by the Forest Preserves of Cook County, and an estimated 65 acres for the data center. A tax increment financing district (TIF) was proposed for financial assistance. The new fire station would have ideally replaced the aging current fire department headquarters at 740 Dundee Road.
Ciesla read the May 14 statement from the dais about the DWC purchase.
“Since the Green Acres Country Club closed in 2016, the Village has worked to ensure the proper redevelopment of the property,” Ciesla said. “In the last eight years, the village has held dozens of meetings … with the property owner, potential developers, neighbors, residents, and staff to move proposed projects forward.”
“Had the Village known about this land purchase before its closing, the village board would have made the water commission aware of its many concerns.
“Northbrook’s local government does not have the authority to review, approve, or deny the private sale of property,” Ciesla added.
“Moving forward, we look forward to meeting with the DuPage Water Commission to understand its intentions in our community,” Ciesla said, adding, “The village will keep residents updated.”
Consent agenda question
Trustees did not add to the Green Acres statement but the consent agenda caused Trustee Michelle Z. Kohler to ask about the annual Village contribution to the Northbrook Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The Village gives 10 % of yearly hotel tax revenues to the chamber with 2023 receipts calculated at $60,402.
Kohler asked, “Do we weigh in on how that money’s used?”
“No, no,” Ciesla said, “but it’s something that we can talk about.”
Kathleen Quinn, chamber executive director told Pioneer Press the partnership between the chamber and the village dates back to the 1990s when a hotel tax was instituted in Northbrook.
“At the time, hotel management agreed not to fight the tax with the understanding that 10 % of the revenue would go to the chamber for local business promotion,” Quinn said. “Those services have been provided consistently, including during the pandemic. When hotel tax collections plummeted, the chamber fully maintained services and programming.
“The funds allotted to the chamber are earmarked to be used for a variety of services to promote the entire Northbrook business community.”
New restaurants proposed for Skokie Boulevard
Two new restaurants (no names revealed) may be coming to 333 Skokie Blvd., one with a brunch menu.
Trustee Johannah K. Hebl expressed delight, describing Northbrook’s Skokie Boulevard as a budding “restaurant row” on the North Shore. Hebl asked for visible fresh striping at a Skokie Boulevard stop light for pedestrian crosswalk safety.
820 Dundee Road bordering Green Acres
Then there was the new proposal to redevelop an approximate two-acre residential strip that coincidentally borders the former Green Acres site next to where the new fire station was supposed to be built on Dundee Road’s same north side. The lot at 820 Dundee Road borders the side and back of the 10 acres that were proposed for a new fire station under the data center plan.
A Des Plaines applicant proposed 15 townhomes in three buildings at 820 Dundee Road, also next to the Ballantrae Drive subdivision on the east.
“It’s kind of landlocked,” Trustee Robert P. Israel said.
While the Board complimented the developer for complying with Northbrook’s affordable housing requirement, concerns included Dundee Road safe entrance access and if emergency vehicles or school buses would have room to turn around to adequately reach townhome addresses, especially in back.
And where would plowing operators store removed snow during blizzards? On top of the proposed playground?
The 820 Dundee Road application was sent to the Plan Commission. The applicant could return with a reworked proposal based on board feedback including what Trustee Joy U. Ebhomielen suggested.
“I’d love to see a little bit more green space in here,” Ebhomielen said.
Pioneer Press asked Northbrook officials if the Village would consider purchasing 820 Dundee Road to have to negotiate with the DWC for additional adjacent land granted by the DWC to combine for municipal acreage along where the new fire station was supposed to be built under the data center plan.
“I know that other possibilities will have to be looked at if the GA (Green Acres) property is no longer an option,” Nicholas Glenn, the village’s communication manager wrote in a return email to Pioneer Press. “However, I do not think we are at a point of considering other properties just yet.
“The 820 property seems like it would share too many of the drawbacks as the current station (proximity to water main, train tracks),” Glenn said, of 740 Dundee Road, current fire station headquarters.
Waste Management refuse bins being recycled
Being green became the bookend to conclude Tuesday’s meeting.
By Sept. 1, Northbrook residents will have new containers for recycling or garbage when a refuse and recycling franchise agreement comes into effect with qualified new vendor Lakeshore Recycling Services (LRS). Got a cracked lid on a refuse bin near you? New plastic curbside-friendly bins are coming.
However, residents can expect their service bills to increase. The transportation cost to haul landfill garbage to distant pastures, “increases the rate,” Kohler said.
Trustees officially selected LRS over WM (who had the village business for six years). WM would not extend its contract for an additional three years at the current customer billing rate.
LRS customers can choose to use an organics bin for compostable yard waste and food scraps.
“I’m very hopeful that we get more people composting so that we can actually reduce the amount of waste that has to go into a landfill,” Kohler said.
The rate and contract will be negotiated in time for May 28 anticipated approval by trustees at the next board meeting.
Heather E. Ross, trustee and chair of the board’s Community and Sustainability Committee, said, “When the board looks at our budget for next year, we’ll consider possibly using some surplus from our general fund balance to provide for a nominal subsidy, maybe, to hopefully make this rate increase even less, if possible.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
