Glenview Village Board Again Chooses Developer Over Residents at the July 5 Board Meeting
Thank you to everyone who came last night to the Village Board meeting on July 5, 2022. It went on for 3 hours and 45 minutes. On short notice, the room was full with overflow in the lobby. The Village did not get the empty room they sought. That so many people stayed until the end shows how much residents care about their community.
For some reason, the Village newsletter did not notify the public about this project. In the July-August 2022 edition, “What’s Being Built There?”, under “Development Review Pending”, even though this application was filed on May 20, 2022, the Village decided not to include the “Allstate Corporation Properties & Dermody Logistics Campus”.
Thank you for calling them out for proceeding with this meeting in light of what happened in Highland Park. President Jenny did not acknowledge it nor did the Trustees bring it up.
Thank you to those who spoke -- your public comments were excellent, and to those who were present as observers that is important, also. It was a community effort with attendees from Glenview and Northbrook.
1. Village should have canceled the meeting
Northbrook, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Wilmette canceled their public events out of respect for Highland Park. Glenview did not.
Glenview should have canceled the meeting for two reasons:
Out of respect to Highland Park
Out of respect to residents who only had a short time to review the documents (uploaded on Friday afternoon) over a three-day weekend that included the Highland Park tragedy and then one business day.
The two speakers representing the developer, Dermody, could have asked that Glenview postpone this meeting. But, sadly, the rush to get this project approved superseded everything else.
Their first speaker started his presentation by saying (at 0:44):
“My name is Doug Kiersey. I live in Winnetka. I am with Dermody Properties. President Jenny and Village Trustees, I approach the podium this evening with humility, given the tragic events in Highland Park, an event that puts our daily tasks into context, but I am gratified that the important work of our democratic institution persists.” (emphasis added).
Sometimes democratic institutions cannot "persist" under the circumstances surrounding this horrific 4th of July weekend. As Mr. Kiersey phrased it, their project is "important work". Important to whom?
Their other speaker for Dermody Properties, Neal Driscoll, stated that he lives in Wilmette (48-minute mark). He went right into his presentation without acknowledging Highland Park at all.
2. Going through the motions
There is a lot to unpack here.
Glenview went through the motions of doing a public hearing on a “Proposed Annexation and Development Agreement” between the Village of Glenview, Allstate Insurance Company, and Dermody Properties, LLC.
Trustee Doron, seconded by Trustee Sidoti, made a motion to open the public hearing. This motion was then unanimously approved by voice vote. At that point, it was over -- seven minutes into the meeting. The result of the public hearing was preordained from the start. No one should be surprised.
Once again, the Board + Village President + Village Staff took the side of a developer over the neighboring property owners. All five Trustees present last night voted in favor of the development, giving the issue a 5-0 vote.
President Jenny presided over the meeting and clearly knew that he had the votes in place. In fact, he "slipped up" a couple of times during the discussion when he referred to this proposal in the past tense as though it had already passed. But he needed to get through the public hearing first.
Glenview got through this hearing without disclosing its deal with this developer or with the City of Prospect Heights.
There was zero discussion about any issues about the appropriateness of proceeding at all, including:
The Request to Cancel the Meeting Due to Events in Highland Park
Incomplete information Posted by Village
Gina DeBoni was not in attendance, with no explanation given.
For the benefit of those that were not able to attend or watch, at a later time, my intention is to do separate emails on specific topics from this meeting.
3. Focus on three slides
I want to share three slides from the Village Staff presentation.
SLIDE 1. Legal Notices. The Village admitted that it did not notify the neighboring property owners. The developer did but the Village needed to do it.
Download Legal Notices
SLIDE 2. Annexation Agreement Terms. The Village showed a slide about the Cook County Class 6b Tax Incentive and the waived Annexation Fee, with no numbers.
Re. 6b Tax Incentive: If you have a property tax incentive, you do not need to pursue a reduction in real property tax owed. It will already have been reduced.
Re. Annexation Fee: The Village stated the waiver of the Annexation Fee, but failed to indiccate the financial loss to the village -- $9.7 million dollars. Another gift to the developer.
Download Annexation Agreement
SLIDE 3. Fiscal Impacts.
The Village presented a chart of so-called “fiscal impacts”, the property taxes from this development that would be shared among various local entities. Of course, there was no evidence, no spreadsheet, showing how these amounts were determined. Per this chart, from 2023 to 2040, the Village of Glenview would be getting $9.1 million dollars. It is interesting that the amount to be paid over a 17-year period is less than the $9.7 million dollar Annexation Fee waiver given to the developer, which would have been paid right now, in 2022.
Download Fiscal Impacts
All five Trustees touted the “Revenue Page” and the “$134 million” as an “important slide”, “strong opportunity”, and “worth noting” (Bland, Cooper, Gitles, Doron, Sidoti). $15 million dollars a year!
In addition, there was no discussion of the 18% payment to Prospect Heights in perpetuity from the property tax revenue.
I do not see how anyone can look at this chart, and not have a lot of questions. No Trustee asked what this was based upon. Either they did not understand it, or, worse, they did not care enough to understand it. Clearly, they simply chose to accept the numbers. Is that fiscal responsibility?
Need for a change
Residents just experienced another meeting where they presented valid questions and concerns that the Board should have pursued related to a development project, but none of the issues were addressed. Despite questions from the public, the Board accepted the traffic report, financials, and the waiving of fees, voting 5-0 in favor of the developer. If you aren't satisfied with how the village board is representing YOU, make your voice heard at the next local election in April 2023.
Here are the term expiration dates of the members of the Village Board.
Ending April 2023: Jim Bland (appointed),. Mary Cooper, Chuck Gitles
Ending in April 2025: Tim Doron, Adam Sidoti, Gina DeBoni, Mike Jenny
If you are interested in running for the village board, send me an email. Or if you know someone who would be a good candidate, talk to them and have them get in touch. In the meanwhile, please let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to forward this post to anyone you think might find it of interest. William J. Seitz Chair,1850 Glenview Road Facts 1850glenviewroadfact@gmail.com WJS
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