News

Palatine Prairie Seeks Less Shady Neighbor

Skirmishes over preservation usually occur when someone wants to build directly on a prairie, wetland, or woodland. But residents in the Village of Palatine have rebuffed a construction project that would have only stood next to one. The Prairie Woods Audubon chapter and other environmental organizations have rallied around the small but significant Palatine Prairie to prevent a multistory building from casting long shadows over this rare remnant of the village’s glacial past.

Palatine Prairie is a 7.5-acre mixed wet and dry mesic prairie located at Palatine and Quentin Roads, just north of the 90-acre Margreth Reimer Reservoir. Five acres are owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago; the remainder belongs to the Palatine Park District. Dedicated as an Illinois State Nature Preserve in 1995, the site has more than 100 plant species, including one on the endangered list.

In 2006, Community Retirement Living (CRL) proposed a 3.6-acre, 235-unit, seven-story senior citizen residence with an underground parking garage. But this otherwise laudable project was to be constructed directly adjacent to the fragile prairie.

Prairie Woods Audubon, which maintains the prairie, heard about the proposal and immediately contacted the village expressing concern. They believed the building would block out the sunlight needed to sustain plant communities year-round, divert the steady wind needed for effective controlled burns, disrupt groundwater drainage, and cause heavy stormwater runoff.

In two well-attended fall meetings, organizations such as Audubon, Sierra Club, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Citizens for Conservation, as well as other experts such as Gerould Wilhelm and Steve Byers, helped the village grapple with the ramifications of building so close to a Nature Preserve.

The legal problems were formidable, involving several layers of regulation. In order to proceed with construction, CRL would have needed a recommendation from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), permission from the Park District, the state, and the Water Reclamation District, and another district permit for the water discharge. The developer made some revisions to the design and sent plans to the DNR, but omitted drawings for the underground parking garage, so the DNR could make no determination.

The final vote was to have taken place in a well-publicized January meeting. That day, however, CRL abruptly withdrew the plans from consideration, stating that they were going to reevaluate the project.

For Nancy Wedow of Prairie Woods Audubon, this is not the end of the struggle, since the land is still for sale. “Prairie Woods is not opposed to development,” she says. “We only ask that whatever is eventually built there does not cast a shadow, leaves sufficient pervious soil, and does not impact the hydrology of the prairie. The proposed seven-story building will not be the last threat. People will have to look out for our little prairie remnant for many years to come.”.

— Elizabeth Riotto