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Panel backs Land Rover service center at former Jaguar site; commissioners add safety and screening conditions
Summary
The Lake Bluff commission recommended that the village board approve a special-use permit to open a Fields Auto Group Land Rover service center at 150 Skooki Highway, adding conditions to prevent cut-through traffic, prohibit deliveries on the Highway 41 shoulder and preserve site screening; staff will revise transferability language in the ordinance.
The Village of Lake Bluff Joint Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals voted April 15 to recommend approval of a special-use permit allowing Fields Auto Group to operate a Land Rover service center at 150 Skooki Highway (the former Jaguar property), with conditions requested by commissioners.
Sherman Palinsky, general counsel for Fields Auto Group, told the commission the company plans no immediate site changes other than signage and expects to close the acquisition on May 1 and open the service center May 4 if approvals proceed. Palinsky said the sales operations will be consolidated with other Fields stores and that used-car sales are not part of the initial operation, though the ordinance language could allow future transfers or uses if the commission and village board approve those changes.
Commissioners sought and Fields accepted three conditions to be added to the recommendation: an explicit restriction against cut-through traffic routing from the site to local residential streets; a requirement that carriers and vehicle-delivery trucks not stop or offload on the shoulder of Highway 41; and language preserving and maintaining existing screening and dumpster enclosures. Staff also noted one technical revision: amending the draft ordinance’s transferability section so future ownership changes do not require repeated hearings, consistent with recent code amendments.
Commissioners said the conditions respond to ongoing safety concerns about truck offloading on Highway 41 and the potential for the site to generate cut-through residential traffic; Fields representatives agreed to the recommendations. The commission moved, seconded and voted unanimously to recommend approval with the added conditions; the panel will forward the recommendation to the village board for final action at the April 27 meeting.
