After hearing more complaints from area residents, Wheeling trustees on Monday approved the final plans for a Gas N Wash station on the village’s west side.
The positive vote was expected. The board approved Tinley Park-based Gas N Wash’s preliminary plan in July, making Monday’s decision perfunctory, Community Development Director Ross Klicker said.
The roughly 4-acre site is on the northeast corner of Hintz and Old Buffalo Grove roads. In addition to the gas station, a convenience store, a liquor store, a car wash and a fast-food restaurant offering drive-through service are planned.
Earthmoving machinery and vehicles have been operating for weeks there.
Building construction is set to begin by the end of the year, Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said before the meeting. The station and other businesses are expected to be operational by summer 2025.
A shopping center featuring a Garden Fresh Market once stood on the property, as did a small service station. Both were demolished to make way for redevelopment.
A Gas N Wash station and other businesses are planned for the northeast corner of Hintz and Old Buffalo Grove roads in Wheeling. The land is vacant now.
Russell Lissau/rlissau@dailyherald.com
The land is on the village’s border with Arlington Heights. It adjoins the Mallard Lake Apartments, is across Old Buffalo Grove Road from the Brook Run apartment and townhouse complex in Arlington Heights and is near a neighborhood of single-family homes in Arlington Heights.
Residents of both villages have expressed fears about traffic, pollution, crime and other potential issues. Three spoke near the start of Monday’s meeting, voicing displeasure both with the plan and the board’s actions.
“We spilled our heart out to you and begged you not to do this,” Arlington Heights resident Nancy Litwin said. “You don’t care what we said, because you don’t live there.”
Fellow Arlington Heights resident Leslie A. Cook called the proposal “a monstrosity.”
As part of the development agreement, overnight parking only will be allowed for employees, and no diesel fuel sales will be allowed between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., Klicker said. Those rules are designed to keep large trucks from driving through the neighborhood overnight to get to and from the station.
