Rezoning request for Northwestern Avenue duplexes withdrawn after neighborhood opposition

The Village of Gurnee Planning & Zoning Board formally acknowledged March 4 that the petitioner had withdrawn a request to rezone roughly 1.25 acres around 1085 Northwestern Avenue from single-family zoning to R4 (two-family), a change that would have allowed duplex construction on five remaining lots in a seven-lot subdivision.

The petition's owner and investor, Marcos Gerbe, spoke to the board and said he had trouble selling recently built single-family units and had intended to build duplexes. "If it's like that, I'll stay with zone three," Gerbe told the board before confirming he was withdrawing the request.

Neighbors and longtime residents spoke in force against the rezoning during the hearing. Jory Stuckwish said the board had previously rejected similar rezonings and urged consistency, arguing the proposed duplexes were incompatible with the single-family character of the immediate neighborhood and were too close to an industrial district. "I'm here to respectfully oppose the proposed rezoning of the five lots on Northwestern Avenue," Stuckwish said.

Carrie Eager, whose home is directly behind the subject lots, said the developer's adjacent single-family listing (1081 Northwestern) was overpriced and not market-ready, asserting that competitive pricing would yield sales without rezoning. "The developer's property at 1081 Northwestern was put on the market as private listing only ... the listing had expired," Eager said, arguing the parcel is better suited to single-family homes.

Multiple speakers raised safety and parking concerns. Longtime resident Rachel asked practical questions about parking and school-bus pickup and warned that doubling households per lot would increase driveway maneuvers onto a high-speed street with limited nearby stop signs: "Where will two families worth of residents park?" she asked. Board members and staff replied that on-street parking is not available on Northwestern and that parking would rely on private driveways; they noted the village code prohibits blocking sidewalks and that school-bus stop locations are set by the district.

Board members probed zoning context, noting the immediate area is predominantly R3 (single-family) and that isolated pockets of R4 zoning exist a block or more away. Staff presented lot dimensions and setback constraints for 40-foot lots, saying a 30-foot front setback would typically allow one vehicle in front of a garage without blocking sidewalks but that garage size and interior setbacks limit buildable width.

After public comment, Gerbe told the board he had not anticipated the level of neighborhood opposition and indicated he would withdraw the rezoning application. The board then moved to formally acknowledge the withdrawal; the motion was seconded and carried.

The board did not act on any rezoning ordinance. The petitioner's withdrawal ends the current application; any future change to the lots' zoning would require a new filing and notice to the public. The board indicated its next scheduled meeting, March 18, is likely to be canceled because no public hearings are scheduled.