Not everything is cheery and perfect in prosperous Wilmette. A plan for a six-story, 130-room Residence Inn by Marriott, recently approved by the village, continues to rankle some neighbors. Now, one of them is suing the developer, White Lodging Services, and the village of Wilmette for procedural errors. Chief among the suit's complaints: that there's not going to be enough parking. The developer's agreement with the neighboring office lot for part-time access to 47 spaces falls short during business hours, according to the complainant. The Marriott will have just 83 parking spots of its own. Leave it to suburbanites to demand more surface lot, but still, we get how spillover may affect residential street parking. Another issue in the minds of neighbors is the intensity of the site's development, which gets nice and intimate with a set of adjacent houses behind a wooden fence. Of course, there's already the office structure and its parking and the site is a natural fit for hotel development, being right beside the Edens Expressway.
Finally, the suit alleges that the predevelopment application was lacking in alternate concepts— three are required by the village. Is it textbook NIMBY overreaction or a legit beef? We'll see what the court has to say on the matter. Pending a successful defense and construction permit, the developer hopes to break ground this summer for a September 2013 opening.
·Resident sues village, developer over Wilmette hotel plan [Trib Local]
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