An overflow crowd of Wood Dale residents came to City Hall earlier this month, drawn by a developer’s plan before the Zoning Board of Appeals to build a 116-unit condominium complex in the middle of town. The board decided to delay action on Wood Dale Venture’s proposal until December, saying the developer had not provided the Community Development Department with enough documentation.
“We really don’t like to do this to all the people who took the time to come to this meeting, but we just do not yet have the information we need,” said Gerri Hayburn, chairwoman of the panel. “Without that information, our department [of community development] is not able to make a recommendation on the project.”
In particular, the city needs detailed traffic and engineering studies from Wood Dale Venture, along with assurances that the development — built partially on a flood plain — would not lead to flooding problems in town, Hayburn said.
Many residents have been vocal and active in their opposition to the proposal, known as Town Centre Condominiums.
Original plans called for construction of two eight-story and three six-story condominium buildings on 4.2 acres near Wood Dale Road and Commercial Street. Individual units would be range in size from 1,200 to 1,600 square feet and sell for about $170,000.
Some modifications to the proposal have been made based on initial community reaction, but developers declined to specify the changes.
City Hall could not hold all of the people who came armed with petitions and a list of grievances about the proposal. Expecting their first formal hearing to move forward, Wood Dale Venture officials brought artist renderings of their project to the meeting.
“We were prepared for a preliminary decision to be made, but the city obviously didn’t have all of the information it needed,” said Rich Pellegrino, attorney for Wood Dale Ventures. “We will have some exploratory meetings to find out exactly what they need.”
Officials have tentatively rescheduled the hearing on Town Centre Condominiums for Dec. 4.
The Zoning Board of Appeals plans to move the meeting to Westview Elementary School to better accommodate the crowd. A lack of space at City Hall forced officials to set up speakers in the hallway and in an adjoining room.
“I have gotten many phone calls about this proposal, not just neighbors of the proposal, but from all over the city, and all of the calls have been negative,” said Gail Bedard, secretary of the Wood Dale Homeowners’ Association. “We already have such a tremendous traffic problem at Wood Dale and Irving Park Roads, why would we want to add more traffic with this kind of proposal?”
Developers have said the condos’ impact on traffic flow in the area would be minimal. They argue that the proposal would help Wood Dale by adding to the property tax rolls and by providing a buffer between residential and commercial areas.
Bedard, though, would like the property left undeveloped.
“What’s wrong with having some open fields?” she said. “Why does the property have to be developed at all? As kids growing up, people remember all the empty fields we used to have. It’s refreshing. Let’s keep what we have there.”
