Fate of controversial gas station plan in Wheeling could be decided Monday night
The fate of a controversial plan for a Gas N Wash station and other businesses in Wheeling could be decided Monday night.
The village board is expected to vote on a preliminary plan for a development on the northeast corner of Hintz and Old Buffalo Grove roads. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at village hall, 2 Community Blvd. It will be livestreamed on the village’s YouTube channel as well.
The roughly 4-acre property is mostly vacant. A shopping center there was demolished in 2022, and a shuttered service station on adjoining property would be knocked down, too.
The site is on the village’s border with Arlington Heights. It adjoins the Mallard Lake Apartments and is across Old Buffalo Grove Road from the Brook Run apartment and townhouse complex in Arlington Heights. Single-family homes are across Hintz Road to the south.
In addition to the Gas N Wash station, a convenience store offering video gambling, a liquor store, a car wash and at least one fast-food restaurant are planned.
Critics have expressed fears about traffic, pollution, noise, crime and other issues.
They’ve described the proposed development as a truck stop in flyers, emails and on an opposition website. But that website also acknowledges the proposed development won’t have traditional truck stop features such as showers or laundry machines for drivers, or space for overnight semitrailer truck parking.
It would, however, have enough features to qualify as a truck stop under state law, which enables it to get a license for video gambling terminals.
Village President Pat Horcher has called the complaints “a bunch of non-issues.”
After hours of discussion two weeks ago, a divided plan commission voted to recommend the board approve the proposal.
The plan commission also recommended approval of special use permits for the proposed car wash and liquor store, as well as consolidation of the two parcels into a single lot.
Those proposals will be before the board Monday, too.
In a memo, Community Development Director Ross Klicker recommended the board approve the plan with several caveats, including a ban on overnight parking and a ban on diesel fuel sales between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.