Revised re-zoning application has been submitted to the City of Highwood and is under review!

  As the home of a National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) designated neighborhood, Highwood and Highland Park are exceptional among cities in the US. As a former essential and active military base, Fort Sheridan represents a vital part of our nation’s heritage. Highwood, Highland Park and Lake Forest, and Fort Sheridan in particular, are also unique to have incorporated a vast array of protected open lands, now managed by the Lake County Forest Preserves. 

The NHLD designation requires that Fort Sheridan’s buildings, landscaping, painting and lighting must adhere to strict policies to maintain the historical flavor and setting unique to this community, and "dramatic or negative change to [NHLDs] can impact their integrity and create cause for concern over the loss of NHLD designation ."[3]  
   

MYAC’s proposed oversized development threatens the integrity of this historic site and undermines the essence of what makes Fort Sheridan special. FHFS is determined to protect this irreplaceable landmark and the protected open lands from a project that prioritizes commercialization over preservation.

[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Historic_Landmark_District#cite_note-Marshall-2]

Highwood is a vibrant 1-square mile town filled with restaurants, bars, businesses and several residential areas. Highwood traffic can also be congested as its main streets are single lane roads. The city is in a growth spurt with numerous high-density development plans underway, including several for downtown Highwood, plus others near the lake shore. These new developments will bring hundreds more residents, visitors and cars to the area causing daily increased traffic and congestion.

For the proposed MYAC entertainment venue to be financially viable, the facility will need to host frequent performances and events year-round to supplement the limited schedule needed for their student body. A 700-plus seat theatre will bring thousands of additional cars on a weekly basis to the area.

Highwood streets and neighboring streets throughout Highland Park and Lake Forest that are regularly used as access to and from Route 41 and beyond, or north/south bound. Ask any resident from these three communities -- they will agree. 

No traffic study has considered the ramifications and impact of MYAC’s added traffic on all thoroughfare streets, or the potential impact on Highwood residents or its businesses, nor the impact on safety and access for essential services. 

For Fort Sheridan residents, families in military housing, and military personnel at the active Philip Sheridan Reserve Center, there are only three ingress/egress points to access the Fort. This poses many inconveniences, security and safety issues, to these individuals, visitors, essential services, as well as businesses in the area. 

The reality is that drivers will find many alternate ways to reach the venue and will seek nearby parking on resident streets or in neighborhood business parking lots.  

  MYAC’s plan includes 287 parking spaces allotted for 728 guests. The plan fails to account for parking to accommodate 100 members of a full orchestra, other performers, venue staff (admin, maintenance, security, food/beverage/caterers) or parking for buses, trucks, garbage, etc. 

Of the proposed 287 parking spaces, 135 are open field/green space “land-banked” parking which creates drainage issues per engineer consults, and additional problems in inclement weather. 

Parking inadequacies are reinforced by the City of Highwood’s own traffic consultant who rejects MYAC’s traffic study (see pages 150-156 of MYAC’s proposal and City’s Information Packet that also includes design info, building images, reports, etc.). https://www.cityofhighwood.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08282024-1071. 

From the MYAC renderings it's hard to appreciate the size of a 287-car parking lot. Click here to see a real-world example of a similar parking lot to the one proposed.

MYAC’s rezoning petition is focused on four (4) acres currently zoned “residential.” They seek to rezone the land “commercial” with a special use designation – as a Planned Unit Development (PUD), enabling them to insert this commercial venue into a thoughtfully planned neighborhood with National Historic Landmark District status that is surrounded by pristine nature preserves and the Fort Sheridan National Cemetery. 

Today, the venue's proposed site is zoned “residential” and can accommodate up to 15 single family homes generating significant annual tax revenue for Highwood and its local schools/students, library, police, and infrastructure. 

Rezoning to “commercial” and allowing a non-profit organization to build an entertainment venue will not generate income or tax revenue for Highwood. Which means, a tax-free commercial venue is lost revenue. 

Tax revenue losses combined with diminished Fort Sheridan real estate values will negatively impact much-needed revenue to offset increases in demand for city services and infrastructure.

 Q: Where will the money come from to build an expensive and specialized performing arts center? We don’t need another idle building sitting vacant for years in our neighborhoods. 

(No funding or financial plan has been provided.)

Q: What are the chances this project is completed? 

(Industry reports cite that specialty performing arts centers like this “acoustically perfect” planned design often run far over cost and far longer in development than planned.) 

Q: What is the future of this venue as a non-profit and what will be modified to make it survive? 

(Revenue trends in most sectors of the performing arts industry report a downward slide over the next 5 years – including across several distinct product lines including, but not limited to, classical and orchestral music.) 

Q: Who will buy/take over this non-profit and maintain its overhead and usage frequency? 

(In the not-too-distant future, there will be an inevitable change in ownership of MYAC due to owner succession plans.) 

Q: How will this entertainment venue be managed and maintained?

(With no venue management experience, rentals will likely be run by a 3rd party vendor as is typical for many performance art centers (e.g., VenuWorks at North Shore Center). And if MYAC takes this on themselves, they have no experience in this area.

Q: With all these challenges, what is the likely future of this commercial entertainment venue?