Wilmette residents rally against proposed McDonald's

WILMETTE, Ill. - The Golden Arches could soon be coming to one North Shore suburb, but a ‘McDebate’ is heating up over the proposal. If the plan gets the green light, it would be the first fast-food drive-thru in Wilmette.

The proposal was approved by the Village of Wilmette’s Zoning Board of Appeals in a vote of 4-3 earlier this month. Now, it will go before the Village Board next week.

On Skokie Boulevard just north of Old Glenview Road, McDonald’s is looking to take the shuttered Baker’s Square and make it their own.

The residents who are not ‘lovin' it’ say their biggest concerns are noise, pollution, and traffic.

"We don’t not want to have a McDonald’s, we don’t want to have a high-volume fast-food drive-thru. It’s the drive-thru we are against, not the McDonald’s," said Kathryn Bauer, who lives in Wilmette.

A group of Wilmette residents, including Bauer, who are pushing back on the plan gathered at the site to protest the proposal on Wednesday morning.  

More than 600 residents have signed a petition against it.

Neighbors say there is only one food or beverage drive-thru in the village, which is a Starbucks on Lake Avenue; there are currently no fast-food drive-thrus.  

"McDonald’s has stated that the average McDonald’s restaurant has 1,000 cars a day, of which, 70-80 percent would be in the drive-thru," said Bauer. "Every other drive-thru in Wilmette is a bank or a pharmacy and they are low-volume, they are not high-traffic drive-thrus like this would be."

Currently the site is zoned for ‘neighborhood retail,’ but McDonald’s has applied for special use of the land to create a drive-thru.

"The noise and light pollution is going to go on 19.5 hours a day. Of course we are going to have the headlights, unless they build a 50-foot soundproof fence, all of us are going to hear it," said David Levy, who lives near the site. "All of us are going to get the headlights, all of us are going to hear the traffic, all of us are going to hear the car noise, the music, the arguments, the issues with the orders they’re talking about."

Levy, who will be able to see the drive-thru from his home, says he feels the Village Board shouldn't provide a zoning exception for the lot.

"What McDonald’s is asking Wilmette to do, to the detriment of the neighborhood and all of the surrounding property owners, is essentially re-zone that," said Levy. "The surrounding neighborhood does not want this."

Others, like Mark Weyermuller, say they are in favor of the proposal.

"I like it, I want to be able to drive over here and get coffee and get an Egg McMuffin, and it will be great for the community – or most of the community," said Weyermuller.

He says bringing life back into site, where the lights have been off since 2019, would be beneficial for the local economy.

"This is a busy street, there’s already thousands of cars here, they should not have moved next to a commercial street," said Weyermuller. "There should be businesses here and we want business. We want businesses that will lower the taxes for everybody else. And again, it will create jobs."

The Wilmette Village Board is expected to vote on the proposal next Tuesday evening.

Wilmette Village Manager Michael Braiman released the following statement to FOX 32 Chicago on Wednesday:

"The McDonald’s application will be considered on Tuesday, January 9 and the Village Board will carefully and thoughtfully consider the input of residents and the impacts of the proposed use during their deliberations. The Village does not specifically comment on the merits of a pending zoning application prior to the public meeting at which the application is considered."