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Buffalo Grove residents give input on Lake-Cook corridor

Normally, one is encouraged to turn cellphones off during a public meeting.

But Buffalo Grove residents were urged to use their phones during Tuesday's meeting to discuss the plan for the Lake-Cook Road corridor.

Residents in the packed village hall were asked to participate in a smartphone poll about issues facing the corridor, including traffic, open space and retail space.

Afterward, residents submitted comments on notes placed against a wall. Among them were: "Grocery Store," "Build a downtown on the golf course!" and "More Local Restaurants With Reasonable Prices. Fewer Chain and Fast Food Restaurants."

Village Manager Dane Bragg launched the proceedings by telling the crowd, "Our job is to get the best plan that we can put together, with your input, and work with property owners to effect redevelopment in those areas."

He then introduced Domenic Salpietra, project leader at consultant HOK, who explained that the plan will be long-range and put the village in a proactive position.

He said, "You can be ready, then, when development opportunities arise, to ask yourself, 'Does this align with our goals? Does this align with our vision? Does this align with our plan?'"

HOK is part of a team of consultants that includes Jones Lang LaSalle (market analysis), KLOA (transportation), SpaceCo (civil engineering and environmental) and Images (community outreach).

Salpietra said the study will proceed through five stages. Currently it is in the second stage, market assessment.

The study area is bounded by Arlington Heights Road, Old Checker Road, Buffalo Grove Road, McHenry Road and Lake-Cook Road.

It consists of more than 472 acres of land and includes more than 1 million square feet of commercial space, residential dwellings, the village campus and the municipal golf course. It is heavily traveled, with more than 40,000 vehicles traversing it each day.

The project's goal is to find out how the village can reposition itself to optimize the corridor's growth potential. The end product would be a plan with attainable objectives that is grounded in market realities.

Some of the questions in the smartphone poll elicited laughter from the audience, especially when it asked whether the audience agreed that the corridor has traffic congestion and is not very accessible. Another one that provoked laughter asked whether the crowd agreed that the corridor contains outdated and underutilized retail space.

One of those in attendance, Buffalo Grove resident Barry Stark, a former member of the village's plan commission, said, "When I was on the plan commission for 12 years, oftentimes we approved development for a hotel, retail or an apartment building, and, for some reason, it never got built, due to changing market conditions. So the thing that I'm concerned about is all this will be approved and, maybe, 75 percent will never be built. So far, so good. I'm glad that the turnout was great. They asked a lot of questions that were kind of geared toward a consensus."

Resident Steve Schneider said he travels the corridor frequently. He said he "would just like to see maybe some sort of downtown area, but still preserving some of the great parts about Buffalo Grove. Just to modernize it, maybe help use the space a little bit better."

Another resident, Sandy Satinover said, "We have a lot of areas that could be viable commercial developments that are not at this point. What about the Town Center? I would rather spend my money in Buffalo Grove. Why do I have to go to Vernon Hills? Why do I have to go to Highland Park? Why do I have to go to Northbrook?"

  HOK consultant Domenic Salpietra addresses the crowd during Tuesday's meeting in Buffalo Grove to discuss the plan for the Lake-Cook Road corridor. Residents in the packed village hall were asked to participate in a smartphone poll about issues facing the corridor, including traffic, open space and retail space. Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
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