Redrawing Kenilworth

More proposed development along Green Bay Rd., this time in Kenilworth, based on their proposed comprehensive plan, developed by a Naperville consultant. Wilmette Life:

The draft plan suggests retaining some buildings on the Green Bay Road commercial corridor, and replacing or refitting most others. It recommends buildings up to five stories high, with all levels above the second floor set back to reduce the perception of height.

The upper floors would include some offices, but mostly residential units, to provide new stores with customers and give residents who wish to leave expensive single-family homes someplace less costly to go within the village.

The AH agenda is undoubtedly driving the height to 5 stories, going higher to spread out the cost of subsidizing AH units. A related story reveals the draft plan calls for the destruction of single family homes, presumably having an immediate impact on the resale value of those homes, and not for the better.

They are talking about doing a Wilmette on Green Bay Rd., with lanes dropping to one each way, with a turn:

The plan also discusses changes for Green Bay Road itself, including a landscaped median and features such as signature benches, bike racks and trash receptacles, and conversion of the road from a four-lane highway to a two-laner, with turn lanes at intersections.

Some of the road improvements would be undertaken by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which would pave and rebuild the road before turning it over to the village for future maintenance. Some other costs could be covered through a tax increment financing district plan, which would allow the village to skim off funds from commercial property taxes as they rise above current levels due to any redevelopment.

Kenilworth also has a train crossing similar to Wilmette's, so presumably IDOT will fool around with their lights like they've done with ours, making them staggered, fanning driver road rage and creating confusing crossings menacing to pedestrians. The other day I drove north on Green Bay at the evening rush hour. The southbound lane was backed up all the way from the Evanston border, through Wilmette and Kenilworth to north of Winnetka Ave. And traffic is typically backed up at least 2 blocks waiting for trains to pass through on the east-west arterial streets in Wilmette at least a couple of times a day.

And Kenilworth is talking TIF. We haven't heard that yet in Wilmette. As you know, that freezes the schools out, so they may get increased enrollment with no way to pay for it.

UPDATE: In other local news, Backfence Evanston has a crime map feature with pinpoints.