A proposal to build 68 homes and 5.2 acres of retail on the Cummings family property in Lake Zurich is expected to go through a zoning review later this fall after the developers encountered issues initially.
“The developers are looking at the layout of the proposed subdivision and the placement of how the retail strip will fit into that,” said Assistant Village Manager Roy Witherow. “They’re looking at utilities and stormwater runoff — how that will all be integrated into the design. They’re also looking at the impact to Quentin Road.” CQ
Representatives of Central One LLC already have met with area residents and addressed concerns raised about lot size, flooding and other issues, Witherow said.
Central One hopes to build the single-family homes, originally proposed with average widths of 35 feet and average lot sizes of 4,025 square-feet, and retail units on 18.3 acres known as the Cummings family property, located on the southwest corner of Route 22 and Quentin.
In December, Lake Zurich trustees offered to work with the developers to reach an agreement on the project, but they said the proposed lot sizes are unusually small for Lake Zurich and the project might cause flooding in the neighboring Coventry Creek subdivision.
After discussing the proposal with trustees, Central One officials suggested they would likely increase the size of the proposed lots and later met privately with residents of Coventry Creek to address flooding concerns.
Residents appeared to be satisfied with the answers they received, Witherow said. Representatives with Central One did not return requests for comment.
“They spent a good hour to an hour-and-a-half walking through the plans,” he said. “They took a lot of questions. At the end of it, they answered all the questions they thought of.”
Village Manager Ray Keller said public hearings for the project are expected “in the near future.” Keller said the village will conduct “public outreach efforts” to inform residents of the hearings, where they again could raise any concerns about the proposal.
Witherow said Central One likely will appear before the Planning and Zoning Commission in November.
Among the remaining issues, developers have to determine how the project’s curb cuts will fit into Lake County’s proposed widening of Quentin Road, he said.
“They’re still working that out,” Witherow said. “I don’t know if anything definitive has come of that.”
Lake Zurich regards the property, which sits across the street from a Mariano’s Fresh Market, as a “prime area for development,” Witherow said. About 20,000 cars use Route 22 each day, he said.
“Capturing that kind of commercial-retail type of dollars as commuters leave work in the morning is very prime,” Witherow said.
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
