If a bigger
and better Dominick’s grocery store is built on the northwest
corner of Dundee and Buffalo Grove roads, it won’t include gas
pumps.
Representatives of Dominick’s Finer Foods Inc. heard that
message at Monday’s Village Board meeting, the same message
trustees conveyed when the project was first proposed last
summer.
“It should come as no surprise to Dominick’s,” said
Trustee Jeffrey Braiman. “We want Dominick’s, we want to
work with Dominick’s, but not with a fuel center.”
Dominick’s wants to relocate to the shopping plaza on the
northwest corner of the intersection, where it would build a
65,200-square-foot store, nearly twice as large as its existing
supermarket in Cambridge Commons on the southeast corner. Store
officials also agreed to refurbish the plaza with new facades
and new lighting in a repaved parking lot. But Dominick’s
representatives have insisted a key element of the project is at
least four gas pumps that would be installed along Buffalo Grove
Road, north of an existing Mobil gas station.
Without them the project may not be viable, said David Hene
of the grocery chain’s real estate department. Further board
discussion is scheduled for March 19.
“There have been some sacred issues with us,” Hene said,
“the fuel center being one of them. Removing the fuel center
is not an option for us.”
Dominick’s plan for the remodeled center falls short of the
number of parking spaces required by the village, though Hene
maintained the 588 spaces suggested would be more than adequate.
A potential parking shortage and the gas station already on the
corner were reasons the Village Board remained opposed to the
fuel pumps. While parking may be adequate for the supermarket,
trustees said they were concerned about other businesses in the
plaza having enough spaces for their customers.
The gas pumps were so important to Dominick’s that Hene
proposed possibly reducing the size of the supermarket to reduce
the amount of parking required. Only Trustee Jeffrey Berman said
he would consider that idea.
Trustees also wanted more time to digest Dominick’s
proposal to receive up to $350,000 of any additional sales tax
the new store would generate to offset the cost of installing an
underground stormwater detention tank required by the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. The village hopes to
persuade the MWRD that the underground storage tank is not
necessary.
If required, however, Dominick’s would be paying for a
drainage improvement, estimated to cost at least $430,000, that
benefits the village and the shopping center owner.
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