Palatine OKs Development That Includes Gas Station, Urgent Care Clinic - Journal & Topics Newspapers Online

Palatine village councilmen voted unanimously Monday, March 16 to approve a development on the northeast corner of Northwest Highway and Palatine Road that will include a new gas station, a larger-scale 7-Eleven store, a car wash and an Amita Health urgent care facility.

The project will include the abandoned Mobil gas station property at 7 N. Northwest Hwy., a two-story mixed-use building at 406-408 E. Palatine Rd. and the shuttered Teddy’s Liquors property at 25-35 N. Northwest Hwy. All three buildings will be demolished, with the new gas station and 7-Eleven built on the Mobil lot, the car wash on Palatine Road and the urgent care facility replacing the liquor store.

Councilman Brad Helms (District 6), whose district includes the properties and the houses directly east and northeast of the development site, expressed concern about the noise from the car wash hurting the quality of life for those residents, who have to put up with the Shell gas station and car wash on the other side of Palatine Road.

Developer Ivan Nockov provided a study and projection showing that what little noise the car wash makes wouldn’t make more noise than the existing traffic along the two major roads. The council ultimately agreed to a provision that will allow the village to shut down the car wash if the decibel count goes above that until the owner corrects the problem.

According to the business plan submitted to the village, the 7-Eleven will be corporately owned rather than a franchise, with the company owning the gas station and the car wash as well. The memo indicates that this store will offer a wider selection of products that 7-Elevens usually do, specifically mentioning “an assortment of fresh sandwiches, pastries, fresh donuts, an expanded assortment of groceries, household goods and possibly fresh produce and fruit.” The store and the gas station will operate 24/7. The 7-Eleven is expected to employ a total of 15 people, with four or five employees working at any given time.

Nockov told the council that the car wash will be entirely automated.

The 8-foot fencing and the landscaping will further muffle the sound, he said.

While 7-Eleven originally hoped to operate the car wash 24/7 as well, village staff objected, and the company ultimately agreed to operate it 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

According to the business plan provided to the village, the clinic will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. It will be able to treat injuries, give immunization shots, complete X-rays “and related diagnostics,” as well as physicals. It is expected to employ a total of 10-24 people.

Helms originally wasn’t inclined to support the car wash at all.

“My concern is that I don’t want any additional noise whatsoever,” he said. “[The neighbors] had to put up with the [Shell] car wash for years.”

Village Manager Reid Ottesen proposed an amendment to the ordinance that would require the company to shut down the car wash if the decibel readings were higher than what the documents indicated. He also mentioned that village staff can measure what the “normal” decibel level is for the intersection, both when the car wash is and isn’t running.

Jerome Pinderski Jr., the attorney for the development, argued that the village should have a uniform standard for decimal levels for car washes and that treating this particular car wash differently under the law was unfair. But after Nockov indicated that he was fine with the condition, the attorney didn’t pursue the argument any further.

The developer told the council that the 7-Eleven and the clinic would be assets to the village, especially under the current circumstances.

“Both of those businesses are committed to keeping the doors open, especially in those terrible days,” he said. “You can go to the doctor, or you can run to 7-Eleven to pick up medicine.”

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