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Fresh Market proposal tops memorable 2012 Lincolnshire stories
Lincolnshire Village Manager Brad Burke outside Village Hall on Nov. 5. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
Top web stories
The five most-viewed stories in 2012 on the LincolnShire REview website:
1. Stevenson High School presents Showcase
2. Stevenson supplying iPads for incoming students
3. Stevenson High School dean resigns
4. Commission revokes local attorney’s license
5. Man accused in Lincolnshire money laundering found dead
Article Extras
Related Stories
- Lincolnshire works to bring in Fresh Market
- Lincolnshire approves Fresh Market land sale
- New District 103 superintendent already at work
- Lincolnshire selects new village manager
- Sente wins in IL-59
- Witness to fatal accident nearly a victim himself
- Glencoe man charged with homicide in fatal crash in Lincolnshire
Updated: February 25, 2013 2:20AM
LINCOLNSHIRE — The theme of 2012 in Lincolnshire was turnover, as three of the most important public offices in the community either gained new occupants or new boundaries.
1. Fresh Market announces plans for grocery store
The story of the year was about earthmoving: the turning-over of the dirt at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Half Day Road, which is scheduled to be the site of a long-awaited grocery store.
The Fresh Market announced this summer plans to build its 129th location on the northeast corner of Lincolnshire’s most high-traffic intersection. The 30-year-old, North Carolina-based, high-end grocer received several permits and variances from the Village Board to erect a 21,500 square-foot facility on 7.2 acres.
Village Hall created a Tax Increment Finance district there in 1989 to attract a grocery store. Nearby competition from Dominick’s in Buffalo Grove and Sunset Foods in Long Grove slowed that plan.
Fresh Market’s plans moved through the pipeline this summer, and resulted in the only contentious meetings in Village Hall this year. Neighbors worried about traffic, construction headaches and property values, but officials spoke of the opportunity to meet an old demand — and to bring the TIF district to fruition before it expires next year.
It should employ 90 full- and part-time positions, but would not need more than 20 at any one time. Opening is expected in the spring.
2. District 103 has new superintendent
Some could argue that the most important office in Lincolnshire is in Daniel Wright Junior High, where the superintendent of Lincolnshire-Prairie View Elementary District 103 oversees operations. It gained a new occupant this summer, when Scott Warren replaced the retiring Larry Fleming.
Warren had been director of technology and personnel in Northbrook since 2008. He now looks after the three-building district, which feeds into Stevenson High School.
3. Village hires new manager
Lincolnshire Village Manager Bob Irvin officially retired from his post this summer after running the village’s day-to-day operations since 1993.
Irvin stepped away after helping attract the Fresh Market — an objective he once listed as one of the village’s biggest needs.
“I think what Bob has done a fine job on is the financial eye,” said Village Trustee David Saltiel said Monday. “The past few years have been difficult for municipalities, revenue sources have gone. He made adjustments on a routine basis.”
His replacement, Brad Burke, came to Lincolnshire from Kenilworth, where he had worked as manager of the smaller village since 2006.
4. Sente handily beats Mathias in 59th district
Turnover also came in the form of an era’s end on election night, when Carol Sente defeated Sid Mathias in the only race of any sort in the state that pitted two incumbents against each other.
The 59th district of the state House of Representatives became an interesting election in 2011, when the General Assembly redrew House and Senate boundaries. Mathias, who had represented Buffalo Grove as a Republican in the 53rd District since 1999, found himself living in what would soon be the 59th District. That area was represented by Carol Sente, a Vernon Hills Democrat who won her first election in 2010 — and her second in 2012.
Two well-organized and well-funded campaigns resulted in a close result: 21,733 votes for Sente, 16,974 for Mathias. He has not announced any plans for a next move.
5, Alleged drunk driver involved in fatal crash
One of the saddest stories in Lincolnshire this year took place on Jan. 13. A male driver going south in the northbound lanes of Milwaukee Avenue, slammed head-on into a young couple’s car, killing a woman who had gotten married the day before, police said.
Shruti Phandis of Wheeling died at age 26 at Milwaukee’s intersection with Aptakisic Road when the car driven by her groom, Devang Vora, collided with a Honda CRV that was in the wrong lane.
Officers arrested John Warsaw, a 63-year-old Glencoe man, charging him with six counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and two counts of reckless homicide. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.
