Fighting broke out Tuesday over what remains of Hangar One. Glenview’s Village Board was reviewing preliminary appearance plans for a shopping center at The Glen when Trustee John Crawford raised a concern. On one of the drawings, the historic inscription of field elevation had been deleted to make room for the name of a prospective tenant, Borders books, and the words "Naval Air Station Glenview" appeared below.

An old Navy man, Crawford felt no commercial signage should be allowed in place of the lettering that had appeared on the building for 50 years, but an attorney for the village thought a limit on retail signs could be devastating to the development.

"This should not be devastating to anybody," Crawford bristled. "We have done so much to accommodate the developer. The least he can do is agree that we want to continue to have this identified as a naval air facility. If it’s devastating, I think we need a new developer."

Oliver/McMillan was apparently alarmed by the last-minute objection and sent a local lawyer to do battle. Fred Feinstein, who has represented Glenview State Bank in the past, came forward.

"Mr. Crawford, Trustees, Mr. President," he began. "You deserve a direct answer, but if I could make some preliminary comments, I will give you a direct answer as I always do." The developer could not be here, he explained, because he had learned of Crawford’s objection yesterday and could not rearrange his schedule. He explained that the developer is close to a deal with Border’s Books, then rambled for several minutes on the "exciting" nature of the project and the important "partnership" between Glenview and the developer.

After more than three minutes of monologue, Village President Larry Carlson broke in. "Are we getting close to the direct answer?" he asked.

Feinstein then launched into a complex analysis of the agreements being considered. He urged the board not to limit signs for prospective tenants, claiming that could cause a domino effect.

"Von Maur will take title to the property July 1. If we miss that deadline, they can pull from the deal. The Von Maur agreement is contingent upon Galyan’s being there. Galyan’s is contingent on Borders being there. If Borders does not get the signage that they think they’re going to get, we are very, very, very concerned that could take the dominos down."

Feinstein reminded the board that the shopping center is in an iffy spot – far from major highways where developers normally build malls. Because of its relatively remote location, he said tenants were especially concerned about their signs. "Historic preservation is important, but there has to be a balance with the marketing of the property," he added.

Crawford wanted the developer to tell Borders "how strongly we feel about maintaining some historic character of the control tower," and Trustee Donna Pappo said future tenants could put a neon sign on the control tower unless some restriction was added to the agreement.

Attorney Jeff Randall said the board could, after approving the agreement, adopt an ordinance regulating signage in general.

"Well we’ve seen how easy that is to do, Attorney Randall," said Pappo sarcastically. "How many years have we been trying to pass a sign ordinance? I think we’re going on three now."

After lengthy discussion, the board agreed to give preliminary approval if the developer would lean on Borders to lower its sign, leaving room for the Navy’s signature gold wings, the site elevation and the Glenview Naval Air Station designation above.

On other fronts there were setbacks for those who advocate historic preservation. Glenview’s Village Board voted to cut the number of seats on its historic preservation commission from 11 to seven. Most members of that panel have resigned, charging that administrative roadblocks have prevented them from doing anything worthwhile. There are just five people remaining – a number too small to do business legally, so the trustees agreed to make the panel smaller.

And in Skokie, the park district is preparing to tear down the final residence of pioneer and founder Henry Harms. The 1869 farmhouse at 5319 Oakton Street was built of hand-made brick, and experts said it would take about $600,000 to fix structural problems with the house. Citizens had been trying to raise money for more than two years, but when their latest request for state funding was refused, the park district voted to photograph the building, remove any historic artifacts and demolish the place.

The Glenview Area Historical Society holds its annual summer open house from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, June 30 at 1121 Waukegan Road. Visitors can take tours of the farmhouse and coach house library, enjoy old-fashioned games such as horseshoes, sack races, clothespins in the bottle and pin the tail on the donkey. Some members will appear in period costumes, and experts will be on hand to help anyone interested in researching their family tree. Refreshments will be served. For details, call 847-724-2235.

After months of review by the Glenview Plan Commission, Active Living of Illinois won official permission to build 122 housing units on 19 acres near the corner of Willow and Waukegan roads next to the Heatherfield development. Residents of that area were furious, feeling the density of the new project was too high, so they took their case to the developer.

Tuesday, a spokesman for Heatherfield said they had reached a new agreement with the developer – one that would reduce the number of units to110 and reduce two condo buildings from four stories to three.

Most of the trustees said they would actually favor a plan that matches the density of Heatherfield – four units per acre. The compromise plan for Haverford is 5.5 units per acre, but Trustee Jeff Lerner warned, "There’s a lot of different ways to count density. When you start subtracting out streets and sidewalks, it changes the numbers."

Trustee John Crawford pointed out that the 19 acres of Heatherfield immediately adjacent to the proposed development is probably R-6.

The board voted to send the compromise plan back to the Plan Commission for further discussion.

Editor’s note: It was President Carlson who first suggested a density of R-4 for Haverford, echoing the demands of Heatherfield residents. Trustees Denefe, Cook and Pappo quickly joined the chorus, but all should be mindful of the lesson learned from Glenview’s comprehensive planning consultant. His advice – worry more about the appearance and feel of a proposed development and less about the numbers. Active Living could create a development of 76 enormous single-family homes. While it would comply with R-4 zoning, it would also put new pressure on our schools and cover more green space.

The debate was as muddy as the Chicago River Tuesday when citizen and science teacher Rob Blomquist asked the village board to delay approval of the park district’s planned parking lot across from Wagner Farm. Blomquist urged the district to consider an environmentally-friendly approach – installing permeable paving stones down the center of each parking stall. That way, stormwater would be absorbed and filtered through the land, returning in a relatively cool, clean state to the aquifer below. Water from a conventional lot will run off to a detention pond, then into the Chicago River less than 100 feet away. The warm, polluted water can be deadly to aquatic life – killing fish and adding to the woes of birds and mammals that live along the river.

Parks executive Bob Quill stressed that the lot would be shared with the Greek church, which has an urgent need for additional parking, and any consideration of permeable pavement would delay the project. He pointed out that without cooperation from the church, a lot would have to be built on Wagner Farm itself, cutting the amount of space available for animals, crops and people.

"The ecological trade off is the ability to have more land at the farm?" said Trustee Jeff Lerner.

"It is," said parks commissioner John Winand.

Editor’s note: Not so, boys. No trade-off was necessary in this situation. An environmentally- friendly lot could have provided parking for Wagner Farm and the church without harming the river.

Quill claimed a permeable lot would cost 60 percent more, and maintenance would run at least $16,000 every three years. He did not share the costs of maintaining asphalt or the detention pond that will be needed for a conventional lot. Quill also repeated a concern for the safety of ladies in high heels, even though pavers down the center of parking stalls should pose no risk to pedestrians.

Despite the fact that he has seen photos of environmentally-friendly lots in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, Quill repeated his claim that permeable lots have no track record in this area, and Commissioner Winand said soil conditions were not right for a permeable lot. No evidence or details were presented. "Frankly, I think some of the engineering points are probably more arcane than we need to go through," Winand said.

In spite of all the alleged negatives, Quill said permeable lots might be considered for future park facilities – in particular at The Grove, which he described as "ecologically sensitive." Winand added that permeable lots might be built where they would have "some ecological consequences."

Editor’s note: We’re alarmed that two seemingly intelligent guys think the river is not ecologically sensitive, and that building a parking lot on its banks will have no ecological consequences. Our park district and our churches ought be leaders in protecting the environment. In this case, they were forceful advocates for the status quo. We are also upset because by now the river should have been declared environmentally significant – given protection from developments that will damage it. That matter was considered by the trustees more than six months ago but has fallen into a black hole at Village Hall. Finally, we wonder where two of this community’s most forceful environmental advocates were during the debate. Kent Fuller, who used to lecture the park board on environmental issues from his elevated post as a village trustee, is apparently uncomfortable raising his voice as a private citizen, and Park Board President Judy Beck, an expert on water quality and a staffer at the EPA for years, was also unwilling to do battle. We hope both will be vocal and use their considerable knowledge to protect the environment in the future.

St. Peter and Paul Church was apparently misinformed about the nature of the proposal. Blomquist had suggested a smooth, asphalt surface where pedestrians in high heels could walk with no problem. The permeable pavers would be installed down the center of parking stalls, but Lee Poteracki, president of the parish council, wrote to the park district, voicing strong objections.

"Our parishioners will typically be dressed to attend liturgical functions, many in high heels which we feel will not mix well with such a surface."

On Thursday, the park board met and voted to go with the asphalt lot at a cost considerably higher than anticipated. Glenview’s park district received just one bid from Lenny Hoffman Excavating – a local company that will get $351,262 for the job. The district had originally figured $240,000 for this project but neglected to include about $100,000 in earth moving expenses plus charges to construct a crosswalk and run a sanitary sewer for the temporary office building at Wagner Farm.

The district’s executive director, Tom Richardson, wasn’t sure why 17 other contractors invited to bid failed to do so, but construction companies are busiest during the summer and may not have wanted the work. The bottom line: building in the fall might have increased the competition, saved Glenview money and given the park board and church leaders time to investigate environmentally- friendly options. The last word: Bob Quill says there’s plenty of money in the Farm and Fields fund to cover this expense.

– With membership at just 3,800, Glenview’s Fitness Center is not bringing in the money park planners had hoped. To increase the numbers, local teachers will now be allowed to join at resident rates, and employees of companies with offices here can also qualify if at least four of their fellow workers want to join. The price – $395 per employee plus a $75 initiation fee.

– The annual Firecracker Classic, a golfing benefit at The Glen Club, raised $40,000 for the park district last week. There’s no word yet on how the money will be spent. In previous years, the fundraiser paid for 200 trees at the National 9's course and art work at Park Center.

– The park district plans a big party on August 24 to celebrate the opening of its new park on Milwaukee Avenue. There will be inflatable attractions like the Moon Walk, refreshments, old-fashioned family games, sports contests and in-line skate rentals following a dedication ceremony at noon. West Fork Park, on Willow Road next to the Chicago River, will open on July 13.

– A bus carrying park district campers home from a field trip to Lincoln Park Zoo was involved in a minor accident while getting on the Edens Expressway. There was little damage to the bus and no one was injured, but state law requires a police report whenever buses are involved in a crash. The kids had to wait on the bus for about four hours before Chicago police arrived to do the paperwork.

A consultant hired to study the possibility of beautifying Lake Avenue by burying utility lines from Lehigh to Patriot told the village board it would cost $2.75 million for ComEd alone. Home owners would also have to pay up to $1,500 to have their service run underground, and there would be additional costs for telephone and cable lines. If Glenview wanted to include the stretch from Patriot to Milwaukee and then bury lines on Willow Road, President Carlson claimed the total would be $10 million.

"It would be a very nice thing to do if we were to have $10 million lying around which we don’t," he concluded.

Trustee Donna Pappo expressed disappointment, noting that the village subsidized underground utilities at The Glen.

Village Manager Paul McCarthy said the comparison was not fair because The Glen represented an expansion of ComEd’s service area, so the utility paid much more of the cost than it would for an upgrade on Lake.

Public Works Director Bill Porter proposed an alternative plan that would cost far less – burying lines which are now strung across the road. "What stands out as you drive down Lake Avenue are the crossings," he explained, noting that the village had taken this approach when Glenview Road was redone.

The projected cost to bury lines at the crossings was $350,000, but Porter warned that traffic lights would have to be mounted differently. The board asked him to find out how much that would boost the bill before it takes a vote.

When Assistant Village Manager Joe Wade read a list of routine items to be voted on for a second time with no debate, Trustee Donna Pappo said item 11M – the building of the Creme de la Creme Daycare Center at The Glen – should not be there. "You’re correct. I was just testing you," joked Wade.

He then described item 11N – permission to let a Milwaukee Avenue grocery store prepare food.

"N is on consent," said President Larry Carlson. "M is not, correct?"

"Yes," said Wade.

"It should not be," said Pappo.

"M is off, N is on," said village attorney Jeff Randall.

"Okay," said Carlson with a chuckle. "Is there any other item any trustee would like to remove from the consent agenda?"

"I’m sorry, I’m still not clear what is off and what is on," said Trustee Mary Beth Denefe.

"Creme de la Creme is not on the consent agenda," said Manager Paul McCarthy. "N is a consent item."

"And why would N be on the consent agenda?" asked Pappo. "It says `first consideration.’"

"Okay, let’s take N off also," said Carlson.

Earlier this month, the New York Times carried a story about the New Urbanism – a style of development designed to bring back a sense of neighborhood and a way of life fondly recalled from the 50's when people walked more, sat on front porches and got to know the folks on their block. This philosophy was used to craft design guidelines for The Glen, but the Times points out that developers are not applying all aspects of New Urbanism, leading to failures in some suburbs.

In San Diego, for example, an enormous new development called Otay Ranch features front porches, back alleys and a town center, but reporter Tim Egan says very wide roads not associated with New Urbanism encourage fast traffic and discourage pedestrians.

Parks in that development "are the kind of places where kids go after school to count clouds or play Frisbee until their mom calls them in for dinner," says the developer. "Very little front-porch sitting or cloud counting was evident," said the New York Times.

At The Glen, Little Bear Garden is surrounded by a wrought iron fence. The only entrance is through a gate located as far as possible from parking on Patriot Boulevard. The developer may have hoped to encourage long family walks, but parents and older children are already hopping the fence, while beleaguered mothers with small children make the long trek in.

– About 150 people jammed the board room of Northbrook’s Village Hall to protest possible widening of Sanders Road from two to five lanes. Cook County has proposed that change for years, but the neighbors say a wider road will mean more drivers traveling at higher speeds, making their neighborhood more hazardous for pedestrians. One told the Northbrook Safety Commission that traffic jams, which occur twice a day for 15 minutes, are a friend to the community, discouraging commuters from cutting through.

– Northbrook’s library is building its adult summer reading program around Illinois native Ray Bradbury and his classic "Fahrenheit 451." The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns, and the book is about a society that burns books. The 82-year-old author now lives in Los Angeles but took time for a video-taped interview to be shown at the Northbrook library on August 3. Among other things, Bradbury explains why he doesn’t own a car or a computer.

– Skokie was among the top 30 communities contending for the title of All-America City last week, but the judges chose 10 others for the honor including Elgin, Illinois. The competition was based on how communities dealt with serious, widespread social issues. Skokie described tremendous diversity, what it did when the Ku Klux Klan came to town in 2000 and how its youth outreach program works.

– Oakton Street will be closed in both directions at the METRA tracks just east of Lehigh Avenue in Morton Grove until Thursday. Wilmette officials warn traffic could be bad in that community too as work begins on its METRA lot and Wilmette Avenue from Green Bay to Ridge roads. For details, visit the village website: www.wilmette.com.

Twenty-four students from Johns Hopkins University passed through Glenview last week on a bicycle ride from Baltimore to San Francisco. They hope their 4,000 mile trek will raise $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. Glenbrook South graduate Vanessa Keating and three other families hosted the cyclists. To track their progress, visit www.hopkins4k.org.

More than 6,200 people walked from Kenosha to Chicago as part of the annual Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day walk. Among those making the trip to Montrose Harbor, Glenview resident Saucy Pinsler. The effort raised $11 million for cancer care and research.

The Gardeners of the North Shore will feature the work of Glenview’s green thumb Dolores McAndrew in its annual walk on July 21. McAndrew’s cottage-style garden on Harrison Street features perennial borders and island beds. In the backyard, sunny and shady areas are connected by a small pond. A total of five gardens on the North Shore will be open to the public at no charge. For more information, e-mail hannah753@yahoo.com or call Ruby at 847-948-9900.

Bear Tracks, a local magazine show on Glenview Television (cable channel 17) will sign-off at the end of June after ten years on the air. Barbara Hines, who produced the show for the last four years, said she enjoyed the chance to meet many wonderful people, but the time had come for the final wrap. Hosts Jim Sawyer and Vicki Buresh, who had been with the program since its inception, were also ready for a rest.

Hines said she designed the show to include something for everyone. Programs featuring kids were especially popular, with parents often calling for a tape. "They loved seeing their little rug rats on television," Hines recalled.

The last edition of the show will air Friday through Tuesday at 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Other programs will fill the time slot in future – cooking shows, concerts at Jackman Park and interviews with Glenview’s public safety officer John Garza on a range of topics. GVTV also promises a 90-minute special on the Relay for Life and, of course, the annual Fourth of July parade featuring Tom and Samantha Smith.

Editor’s note: Producing a show is tough enough when people are being paid. Bear Tracks and the other shows at GVTV rely entirely on volunteers. If the village values public information and the critical role its cable station plays, shouldn’t we pay something for the long hours citizens invest?

GN regrets the lack of support for a green parking lot: " I read in the latest issue of Glenview Watch that the permeable parking lot seems to be a closed topic. It doesn't appear that anyone is willing to rethink the project for fear it will delay it a few months. Whoever said it is correct that a few months is nothing compared to years that the project will impact the environment. It is a shame when an organization can be a leader and innovator and doesn't seize the opportunity."

M also writes about our call for a permeable parking lot at Wagner Farm: "How wonderful to read the Editor's note concerning the parking lot on Wagner North of Lake. Just this weekend WGN had a very-to-the-point interview with land management planners who warned strongly against further concrete and blacktopping of our state."

LD wonders "Why Glenbrook South would move the special education rooms to the second floor and put chemistry and physics labs in their place on the first floor. Many special ed students have disabilities which make stairs difficult if not impossible for them. How are the children in wheelchairs supposed to be evacuated during a possible fire? And what about the cost of moving the labs to the first floor? I would imagine equipping each lab with gas and water lines, which are necessary for chemistry and physics, could be quite expensive."

The Watch replies: Most science labs and classrooms were on the first floor, and the district wanted to bring the entire department together. Likewise, there are advantages to having all the special education facilities in one place, and this move made that possible. There is, at this time, only one student at the school who uses a wheelchair, and in the event of an emergency, Associate Principal Pam Taccona says a special plan is in place to assist her in getting downstairs and out of the building. Taccona also points out that special education students do not spend their whole day in the special education area, but may be in first or second floor classrooms.

YOUR TURN: Write to glenviewwatch@aol.com or 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60025. If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a contribution to support The Watch. Non-deductible checks should be payable to Glenview Watch. Thanks for your support and for reading. Dean Schott and Sandy Hausman, Co-Editors.

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