Pulte Homes’ proposal for a 110-unit housing subdivision at The Glen has met with some skepticism from Glenview Village Board members, who are concerned about its size and density.
It took months for Schaumburg-based Pulte to get the approval of the Plan Commission, and now the proposal appears to be taking a similar trajectory at the Village Board level. The proposal received just three favorable votes from trustees at a recent meeting; it needed four for approval.
“I’m very concerned about that lack of green space and the continued density at the (south) end,” said Village President Kerry Cummings, echoing concerns of the Plan Commission members. “Does this have anybody else concerned?”
Trustee Deborah Karton said she, too, was troubled. Pulte representatives reduced the number of row houses proposed for the south end of the site in response to Plan Commissioners’ unease about density, but more than 14 units per acre still seemed too crowded for some trustees.
Karton and Cummings, the project’s chief critics at the meeting, also questioned why Pulte was not following The Glen design guidelines in some instances.
For example, Karton said, some row houses in the drawings face a courtyard rather than the street as the guidelines suggest.
“I think the design guidelines were to create a vision for this whole area and a look and feel for it,” Cummings said.
Mary Bak, the village’s director of development, said that because the streets in the proposed development would be private, Pulte could take more liberties with the design.
Some trustees jumped to Pulte’s defense.
“In order for this plan to make sense economically for a developer, it has to have certain amount of density,” said Trustee Scott Britton.
He added that the people who would buy the row houses likely would do so knowing the arrangement and density of the buildings.
The railroad tracks running northeast on the west side of the proposed development also served as a talking point. Although Pulte representatives said they would build a fence and plant vegetation to muffle noise, some village officials said that wouldn’t be enough.
Karton said she wanted Pulte to explore building a larger barrier or offering soundproof windows and walls for homeowners closest to the tracks.
She and Cummings added that village officials routinely hear from residents on the opposite side of the tracks, who complain about the train noise.
Still, other trustees saw the railroad as just another condition people would have to weigh when considering whether to move to the subdivision.
Trustee O’C. White recounted his experience trying to sell his home near the noisy Edens Expressway.
“It won’t make difference if you’re one or three houses away – you’re still going to have the noise of the railroad,” he said. “I’m not concerned about trying to protect people from their own poor judgment.”
Although three trustees were willing to approve the proposal as-is, the measure will be reconsidered at a future Village Board meeting.
“We have a right to try to get the best development we can when we have opportunities like this,” Karton said. “We have very few opportunities to make life better, and this is one of them.”
