Traffic and safety issues were cited by Lake Zurich officials during a courtesy review as reasons a proposed BrightPath Kids day care learning center at Main Street and Route 22 would be better suited elsewhere in town.
Courtesy of village of Lake Zurich
The location of a proposed BrightPath Kids day care learning center near downtown Lake Zurich would be unsuitable due to potential traffic and safety issues but there may be a place for the facility elsewhere in town.
Bradford Real Estate Companies was detoured after residents and village trustees questioned the use on an open site at the northwest corner of 290 W. Main St.
The property bounded by West Main Street, Route 22 and Robertson Road is zoned for residential use in a busy traffic area that includes school bus comings and goings.
Bradford presented the concept to the village board Monday during a courtesy review, a nonvoting item at which staff and developers get a sense of the board’s preferences for a given project before proceeding.
“This feels very square peg, round hole,” Trustee Jake Marx said after a presentation by Bradford representative Gary Wendt.
Traffic was a chief concern as the site does not have direct access to Route 22 or the short section of Main Street. The site would need to be rezoned and a commercial use there also was questioned.
“It is not an easy place to navigate. My number one concern is the traffic — whether that traffic is early or late it’s additional traffic in an area that is already substantially squeezed and has a number of challenges,” said Trustee Greg Weider.
He said he likes growth in the village but it’s important to be done sensibly.
“My initial thought is this is not an ideal spot for this particular business,” he said.
BrightPath Kids is said to be one of the largest child care providers in North America operating more than 230 centers in the U.S. and Canada. In Illinois, it has locations in Sugar Grove, South Elgin and Chicago and wants to expand in the area, village officials were told.
In Lake Zurich, BrightPath presented a plan for a single-story, 12,000-square-foot building and a 7,500-square-foot fenced play area. The dimensions were reduced from the initial plan for 13,700 and 10,000 square feet respectively.
As proposed, the building would have been located as close to the corner as possible to maintain a tree buffer to the adjacent neighborhood and the outdoor play area positioned along Route 22 to allow drivers to enter from Robertson Road and avoid the busy intersection with Main Street, according to the proposal.
Bradford can still proceed to a more detailed staff review and an eventual public hearing for a facility at that location but that is to be determined.
“They left the meeting on Monday with continued interest in Lake Zurich and are working with staff to find a location that is appropriately zoned and suits their needs,” said Michael Duebner, assistant village manager.