The controversial proposal for a Meijer store in Frankfort is off the table, Mayor Raymond Rossi announced at a recent Village Board meeting. Silver Cross Hospital officials withdrew the project, and letters announcing that decision were sent to residents of Settlers Pond, Butternut and Yankee Ridge subdivisions, Rossi said.
Strong objections from residents as well as a lack of support among Plan Commission members and the Village Board led to the project’s demise, he said.
“The most important thing in Frankfort (is) our neighborhoods and neighbors,” he said, adding that village officials had recommended Silver Cross, Meijer and the project’s developer, Mark Tanquay, withdraw the proposal.
Residents came out overwhelmingly against the project, citing traffic concerns and an inappropriate location and fearing lower property values.
Meijer had sought to have a full-service store and service station built at the corner of Wolf Road and U.S. Highway 30 on property owned by Silver Cross Hospital and Healthcare Centers. Silver Cross had planned to extend to Meijer an option to buy the land and then construct its own building on the remaining property.
Meijer’s proposal was brought before the Plan Commission with great fanfare this summer. It ignited a storm of controversy within nearby Settlers Pond and among other village residents. The village held a town meeting on the issue last month.
Several village officials, including Trustees Robert Herrick and Al Krusemark, criticized the plan.
“It was tough,” Rossi said of the conclusions that officials and Silver Cross reached. But he dashed any hopes some residents might have that the property could be used for residential development. Silver Cross officials have indicated they will go back to the drawing board and find a smaller, less intensive commercial use for the property, such as one or more retailers, he said.
Rossi said Silver Cross gave no indication of pursuing the Meijer proposal as a county project because the site is unincorporated.
Silver Cross “wishes to be good neighbors to Frankfort,” he said.
Rossi noted that the U.S. 30 property across from Frankfort’s boundary, in Mokena, is already zoned commercial and ripe for large retail development.
Several residents have criticized plans on that side of the street for a Target, Kohl’s and possibly a Home Depot. Rossi reiterated that those sites are in Mokena and are not subject to Frankfort planning.
“Will County is (the area’s) worst-kept secret,” Rossi said of the rush to develop the U.S. 30 corridor.
