Deerfield residents protest plan for industrial park on old Baxter campus
DEERFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Hundreds of residents of north suburban Deerfield are outraged about a proposed development of the old Baxter International campus.
Residents say if the plan is approved, it would mean hundreds of semi-trucks going through their neighborhoods every day.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the Deerfield Village Hall was not big enough to accommodate the hundreds of people who wanted to attend the meeting – so it was moved to the gym at Deerfield High School.
The majority of people who showed up are opposed to a proposal that would bring an industrial campus to town.
Some say the industrial campus could bring hundreds of trucks in and out – just feet from a residential subdivision.
Those who live near the facility have health, noise, and traffic concerns.
"We don't want 600 trucks a day, 24/7, coming in and out of Deerfield," said Lisa Rosen, a member of the Thorngate subdivision in Riverwoods near the Baxter campus.
"My daughter has been hospitalized with asthma, and she's been in the ER – and I'm just really concerned with the diesel fumes and what that will do to her health," said Barbara Mooney, also of the Thorngate subdivision.
The medical giant Baxter International is nearing a deal to sell its sprawling corporate campus to Bridge International.
Bridge International went before the Deerfield Plan Commission to propose annexing the facility to Deerfield – and rezoning it for industrial and recreational use.
"We're proposing to redevelop this land to a modern, state-of-the-art, environmentally conscious Class A corporate campus for industrial tenants," said Jonathan Pozerycki of Bridge International.
The development calls for two warehouse-like buildings and a recreational facility.
"We don't know the tenant or the type of operation that's going to be there at the end of the day," Pozerycki said at the meeting to boos from the crowd. "The type of trucks that will be here can be 18-wheelers, or they can be something smaller - 30 feet or so - box trucks."
"I think we're all shocked, actually, that they're entertaining this," said Rosen.