Deerbrook Project Hits Snag

hit a snag when the shopping center owner’s sales tax sharing proposal met with a split among the Village Board of Trustees at their Monday meeting.

expressed skepticism with a proposal which would allow mall owner Gateway Fairview to recover approximately two-thirds of its redevelopment cost, postponed a vote to develop consensus.

“Let’s have staff come back to us and we’ll have the pros and cons,” Rosenthal said of Deerbrook’s proposed letter of intent with the Village. “We should try to have everybody a little more comfortable.”

Deerbrook owners asked the shopping center be declared a separate business district with an additional sales tax of one percent which would be used to defray some of its development costs. Gateway Fairview would pay for the project and be partially reimbursed from the collection of the additional revenue.

“I think they’re being greedy,” Seiden said. “I don’t believe they won’t go ahead with it (if the Village does not agree to the letter of intent),” he added about his perception of the developer’s intent.

Rosenthal hopes the Board can move to the next step at its July 2 meeting when representatives of Deerbrook will return for additional questions and presentations.

In other business, the Board approved the installation of a and moved ahead with plans to grant a special use permit for a photography studio at 720 Waukegan Road.

Patch will have a more detailed story about the Deerbrook proposal Wednesday and an additional article about the stop sign hearing and other subjects discussed by the Board on Thursday.

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