A Wilmette Plan Commission hearing to consider a proposed six-story hotel has been delayed until next month.
Developer White Lodging received preliminary approval from the Village Board in September for its Planned Unit Development application to install a 130-room Residence Inn by Marriott at 3201 Old Glenview Road.
The Plan Commission had scheduled a hearing on a slightly altered plan on Feb. 7, but a resident of the adjacent Lockerbie Lane requested more time to review the plan’s documents, said John Adler, the village’s community development director.
After an initial objection, White Lodging acquiesced and agreed to delay the hearing. It will most likely be scheduled for March 6, Adler said.
The developer’s original plan was tweaked slightly to accommodate residents’ and the village’s concerns, he said. Notably, the hotel’s trash was moved from the west side of the property — nearest to the Lockerbie Lane residents — to the east.
The new plan includes additional landscaping along the west property lines and two parking spaces were eliminated to address a village concern about ingress and egress from the parking lot, Adler said.
Larry Rogers, the Lockerbie resident who requested the hearing be delayed, said he and his neighbors are not backing down from their opposition.
“We’ve told them ‘we are totally against your project, you can do whatever you want to try and sweeten it, but we don’t think a hotel should be there,’” Rogers said. “You don’t want a 24-hour-a-day business in your back yard.”
A White Lodging representative said the delayed Plan Commission hearing doesn’t pose a significant timing hurdle and the project is still on-track for a June 2013 opening.
Rogers said he and his neighbors plan to continue the fight even if local leaders ultimately approve the project.
“We intend to go to court. We intend to file a lawsuit after this is all over,” he said.












