Benjamin Clark: Kane’s plans destructive, deceptive

As a resident of Hickory Hills, I found John Kane’s self-serving paean to North Hills (“North Hills a development success story,” March 31 letter) – an obvious attempt to grease the political skids for his current project, the expansion of North Hills East – both misleading and galling.

His intent is to clear cut the wooded land beside St. Albans and replace it with high-density apartments, retail businesses and 20-story office towers – not with low-level buildings like those at North Hills.

Fact is, a recent public survey suggests most residents of adjacent neighborhoods treasure the backdrop of woods he intends to level, and we hope City Council will not change code to accommodate Kane’s pernicious imposition on the lifestyle we have invested in and enjoy.

While, as Kane says, he is not a “developer from out of town,” he is not a neighbor of ours – no matter how many times he tries to peddle himself as such. My actual neighbors and I will be stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic Kane’s towers will create and watch as lines of cars cut past our homes. To pretend he would in any way have to tolerate the ill effects of his plans is insulting to those of us who will and indicative of the way he’s tried to bulldoze our concerns.

Worse yet, Kane is not “playing fair” with our neighborhood or the city. The information he has presented during public forums has been incomplete and misleading.

For example, Kane’s team often cites how much of their targeted property they intend to retain in its natural state. What they don’t mention is that the only land Kane won’t scrape clean borders a creek, protected from his tractors by law. I encourage City Council to respect the wishes of those of us who reject his attempts to profit at our expense.

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Benjamin Clark: Kane’s plans destructive, deceptive."