The Village of Gurnee Planning and Zoning Board on Wednesday voted to recommend that the village board rezone about 2.2 acres at South Riverside Drive and Woodlake Boulevard from an O‑1 restricted office district to an R‑6 multifamily residential district and to approve a density variation to accommodate Liberty Pointe Residences, a proposed 40‑unit workforce housing project.

Developers Jake Victor and Lane Manning, of Northpointe Development, told the board the project has received tax credits and is intended to provide 1‑, 2‑ and 3‑bedroom units affordable to households earning roughly 30 through 80 percent of Lake County median income. Victor said the site is the last undeveloped parcel within the Woodlake subdivision and that the village’s amended 2020 comprehensive plan identifies the area for multifamily housing.

Victor and Manning described a range of design changes made after an earlier informal review and a neighborhood meeting. Changes cited to improve livability include reducing building height (developer stated the building midpoint is now about 38 feet), lowering roof peaks, converting four units along the parking lot to townhome‑style units with ground‑floor entries, adding a roofed trash enclosure structure, and increasing landscaped amenity and walking‑path space. Developers said balconies will be included on every unit and that interior finishes will include quartz countertops and luxury vinyl plank flooring.

The development team said they increased sustainability targets from an earlier standard to LEED Zero rather than Enterprise Green Communities (as presented to the board), and that they have an agreement with PADS of Lake County to provide services for households placed in the 30% AMI units. The developers also provided a traffic impact statement prepared by KLOA that estimated modest site traffic: roughly 1 inbound and 5 outbound trips during the morning peak hour, 10 inbound and 6 outbound in the evening, and about 144 two‑way daily trips.

Developers said they plan to reduce parking to the village minimum to allow more green space, and that the project’s unit mix and AMI targeting were necessary to make the financing feasible given land and development costs. They told the board they expect to begin construction in January or February 2026, with roughly 12 months of construction anticipated.

Members of the planning commission who spoke praised the updated design and the informal review process; commissioners and staff raised questions about vehicle access (the design uses a single driveway because of sight‑distance constraints) and stormwater management, which the team said would use an underground solution rather than a swale. Gurnee resident Lauren Fish, speaking for the Gurnee chapter of Joining Forces for Affordable Housing, urged approval and said local rental inventory is tight.

The board voted to forward a favorable recommendation on both the rezoning to R‑6 and the variation to increase maximum allowable density to 15.81 dwelling units per acre. Staff will notify the petitioner when the village board schedules the items for public hearing and final action.