Westmont planning commission recommends approval of Holiday Properties’ 5‑story downtown development

The Village of Westmont Planning & Zoning Commission on July 8 recommended approval of a seven‑part application from Holiday Properties for a five‑story, 119‑unit mixed‑use building at 1 North Cass Avenue, forwarding the matter to the Village Board.

Drew Mitchell, who identified himself as a Holiday Properties representative, presented the project and said the company has worked on multiple suburban transit‑oriented developments, including Quincy Station in Westmont. Mitchell introduced the development team and said the project would pair storefront retail with apartments and an approximately 8,000‑square‑foot amenity deck aimed at making the downtown more active. "We're here with humility," Mitchell said, adding the team held a neighborhood meeting and incorporated resident feedback.

Chris Walsh, the project's architect, described a four‑sided building intended to activate the Cass Avenue frontage and a pedestrian alley with two micro‑retail incubator spaces. Walsh said the proposal includes 121 indoor parking spaces in the garage and 21 surface spaces in a new Linden lot; staff later summarized the full parking plan as 142 residential spaces plus 26 surface commercial/public spaces.

Scott (staff), in a separate presentation, reviewed site history and regulations and flagged a recent state law change: the People Over Parking Act (enacted 06/01/2026), which prevents municipalities from imposing mandatory off‑street parking minimums for new developments within a half mile of public transit hubs. Staff noted that, despite the state change, the petitioner is voluntarily providing parking that exceeds what the village code would have required (staff stated the code would require 131 residential spaces and 17 commercial spaces; the project would provide 142 and 26, respectively).

Public comment focused heavily on parking, traffic and impacts on adjacent homes. Kyle Dispenza, a Westmont resident, said he appreciated outreach but urged more parking to replace what the community considers a downtown main lot; he recommended a two‑story parking deck and asked that new public spaces be ADA accessible. Neighbor Kevin Romanek, whose house abuts the proposed Linden parking area, requested robust screening and assurances about construction safety for his young children. Several speakers praised the project’s massing relative to a prior 2020 proposal but pressed the developer and staff on traffic queuing and the alley’s safety for pedestrians.

Bridal May of KLOA, the developer's traffic consultant, summarized a traffic impact study that included the Burlington Avenue realignment and vehicle distribution projections used to size access and loading plans. May reported an estimated distribution of trips with roughly 45% heading south on Cass, 40% north on Cass and the balance on Burlington, and said the design aims to route resident garage access via the alley to limit curb impacts on Cass.

Developers committed to several neighborhood‑oriented measures: interior trash handling (trash chutes and rooftop exhaust), a screening fence and landscape buffer between the new public lot and adjacent backyards, bollards and alley design to reduce vehicle‑pedestrian conflicts, and a regular construction‑status communications cadence for nearby residents. The team also said it would explore provisions to enable future electric‑vehicle charging and potential future expansion of parking infrastructure, but emphasized a second level of structured public parking would be costly and would require separate analysis and agreements.

Commissioners asked detailed questions about long‑term control of the Linden parking lots and whether the village should retain ownership to preserve future options (for example, a parking deck). Staff and the village attorney said the redevelopment agreement (RDA) and recorded covenants can bind use and maintenance commitments and that the PUD requires consolidated ownership of parcels while the RDA will address shared‑use and maintenance obligations.

The commission took seven motions (each moved by Commissioner Simpson and seconded by other commissioners) to recommend the Village Board approve: (1) a special use permit for the PUD; (2) the PUD development plan; (3) the PUD major site plan; (4) a preliminary plan of subdivision to consolidate 14 and 20 N. Linden; (5) a comprehensive plan map amendment changing 14 and 20 N. Linden from single‑family residential to downtown mixed use; (6) a zoning map amendment for 14 N. Linden from R‑5 to B‑1A; and (7) a zoning map amendment for 20 N. Linden from R‑3 to B‑1A. All motions passed on roll call with unanimous "yes" votes.

The commission’s recommendation is advisory; the Village Board will make final determinations and will negotiate a redevelopment agreement if it proceeds. The meeting closed with an open‑forum neighborhood concern about amplified music at a local business, and staff confirmed procedures for noise enforcement and special event permits.

What’s next: the project will appear before the Village Board for final action and for negotiation of a redevelopment agreement that staff and commissioners said should explicitly address public‑use parking, maintenance responsibilities, screening and any enforceable timing or communication commitments for construction.

Sources: Commission hearing, applicant presentation and staff report during the July 8, 2026 Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. All quotes and attributions come from speakers who self‑identified or were introduced on the record.