At 5;00 p.m. Friday night, the Village Staff posted the agenda for the Village Board's meeting for next Tuesday night. On Tuesday July 5, 2022 at 7:30 P.M, the following public hearing is scheduled: "Public Hearing on a Proposed Annexation and Development Agreement between the Village of Glenview, Allstate Insurance Company, and DP AIC Sanders Road, LLC" This relates to the 290 acres of property located South of Willow Road and East and West of Sanders Road. 30 acres is being retained by Allstate Properties. 230 acres is under contract by Allstate to be sold to Dermody for construction of what is described as a "Logistics Center" (planned to be built in up to three phases, with 10 warehouse/ industrial/ logistics buildings. Phase 1 is 5 buildings). The Village has decided to present and approve this project, piecemeal. I have reviewed what has been posted, but this is compounded by the short time period that the public is being given to respond. With Monday being a holiday, what has happened here is that the public is being given 1 business day to review these documents and offer comments on a complicated project in which the Village has not still not provided the details. Absent a full memorandum explaining the entire deal (Dermody & Prospect Heights), with enough time for it to be reviewed by the public so that it can comprehend and make informed comments, the public hearing is putting the public at a disadvantage. This transaction merits full discussion, not being pushed through towards passage, making use of a holiday weekend to do it. What's the rush? The outstanding questions start with water. On the voucher list for this meeting, Glenview is paying $550,000 to the Village of Wilmette for wholesale water purchases in May. Now the Village is selling water to Prospect Heights? Relative to Dermody, what exactly is their public subsidy, i.e, public cost versus public benefit? They are getting a property tax incentive without any showing. In fact, the Village agreed to it in their Agreement without them asking for it. This development agreement is dated July 1, 2022, it runs for 20 years. There are few obligations imposed upon Dermody (at public meetings, they stated plans for a 3 to 5 year development, but there is nothing legally binding to hold them to that). It looks like a very developer friendly deal. A "logistics-focused campus" means trucks, not cars. Maybe there are benefits to the Village that are not being disclosed? The 7-page Village Staff report contains no new information. Even if you don't live near this property, the Village could easily do the same thing for a proposed property development near you: short public notice, developer advocacy by Village Staff, and an undisclosed public subsidy at your expense. This can happen to you. Thus, even if you do not live at "Glenview Place", which is the residential development that borders the south of this site, there should be no comfort that the Village will not do this to you. Agree? Send an email to the Village President and Trustees, and tell them that scheduling a public hearing over a holiday weekend is quite unfair to the residents and to the public, asking them to cancel the public hearing on July 5, 2022. The documents that were the subject of the hearing were only posted on Friday night July 1, 2022. That is unfair. If they wanted to do a hearing on July 5th, they needed to post all the documents much earlier. It is not the public's problem that it did not get done sooner. Further, ask that they not vote until the implications of this proposal have been fully studied, and that has been communicated to the public. Here are the emails (Village President, Trustees): mjenny@glenview.il.us jbland@glenview.il.us mcooper@glenview.il.us gdeboni@glenview.il.us tdoron@glenview.il.us cgitles@glenview.il.us asidoti@glenview.il.us In fact, if a public hearing is rescheduled for the next meeting, July 19, 2022, the Village still needs to make that full disclosure (not done) and do so with enough time for the public to review it, so this can take place well in advance of the meeting. To emphasize, that still has not happened here. If the Village's rush to get this project approved supersedes everything else, and the public hearing on July 5, 2022 goes ahead, if you can, please participate on Tuesday night. (Village of Glenview meetings are in-person). Even if you do not speak, just sitting there, denies the Village the empty room they seek. For public comment you will be limited to 3 minutes. Given the current make-up of the Village Board your input is the only way to ensure that your voice is heard. Village residents are needed to raise the issues that the Trustees are not willing to ask. By doing so, even with this short notice, you are sending a clear message to the Village that you care about what they are doing to your community. SUMMARY OF THE DOCUMENTS I have gone through the package. There are thousands of pages, but here is a summary of what I think are the key ones. Not to get too "legal" here, but if the Village proceeds ahead with a public hearing, there are issues here about affording constitutional due process. The public has important rights. Here is the Village's video which they explain those rights: Ask The Village: What is the Difference Between Public Comment and a Public Meeting? For Tuesday night, there are 5 items on the agenda: 1. Annexation Agreement and Development Agreement with Allstate Insurance Company and DP AIC Sanders Road, LLC d/b/a Dermody Properties, LLC
2. Ordinance Annexing Territory to the Village of Glenview that is not within the corporate limits of Glenview, but contiguous to a municipality at the time of annexation (approximately 257 Acres)
3. Ordinance Annexing Territory to the Village of Glenview that lies along the boundary line between 2 adjoining municipalities, excluded from Prospect Heights and annexed to Glenview (approximately 36 Acres)
From the New Development Commission's special meeting June 29, 2022: 4. Ordinance Approving Text Amendments Chapter 98 of the Municipal Code regarding land use regulations. After rezoning to I-2 Zoning District, this makes the following permitted uses for the Dermody site (about 230 acres):
Data Center,
Freight Logistics Center, and
Day Care Center (allowing the one already on the Allstate site) .
5. Ordinance Granting Approval of
Rezoning,
Official Map Amendment,
Final Site Plan Review,
Comprehensive Plan Amendment, and
Preliminary Subdivision, Architecture, Landscaping, Lighting, and Signage
All 5 of the above is a lot to go through.
What is Glenview getting? What is Glenview giving?
Bottom line, there is no urgency in pushing this through. Clarity as to the impact of these proposals is essential. Details matter.
Until there is clarity, the Trustees need to vote "No".
Once again, we appear to be repeating the cycle of a developer who feels that he already has a deal in place.
The Village staff should be working for the residents, not for a developer, Dermody or anyone else.
Please let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might find it of interest.
William J. Seitz
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