LANSING | The Village Board will decide next week if an Aldi store can go in at the northeast corner of Wentworth Avenue and Ridge Road.

Last month, the planning and zoning board turned down plans to construct the grocery store on a vacant lot at that corner, already the intersection of major streets and busy with a Walgreen's store on the northeast corner.

Village planners cited traffic at the intersection as the No. 1 concern for their decision. But they but also took exception to the way Ken Lebovic, the property owner, conducted himself.

After a lengthy and impassioned discussion about the proposal at Tuesday's Village Board meeting, Lansing Trustee Bob Ryan said if the village let traffic concerns and meeting conduct stand in the way of allowing an Aldi to be built, members would not be acting in the best interest of residents. Traffic, especially in a business district, is a great thing for the village, he said.

Village President Dan Podgorski agreed.

"If we vote no, we are sending a message to the community that we are effectively closed for business," he said.

Tuesday, trustees listened to presentations made by representatives from Aldi Corp. and project managers from Weaver Boos Consultants, South Bend. But the emotional climate changed when Lebovic took the floor.

Trustees Nancy Eichhorn and Patty Eidam voiced their disdain for the way Lebovic handled himself at the planning and zoning meeting, and they said that comments he made about building a strip mall at the location if Aldi was turned down carried a threatening tone.

Eichhorn and Eidam also said they did not appreciate Lebovic referring to one of the planning and zoning commissioners as un-American.

Lebovic apologized to the Village Board and said he spoke out of frustration with himself -- not the committee. He said he never intended to come off as threatening. He said he and his development partner have the best of intentions for the village and the property.

Since the January planning and zoning board meeting, two commissioners who voted against the proposal, wrote letters to the Village Board saying they would like to see the proposal approved. The planning and zoning board also declined to have a revised proposal put to a vote, and rather decided to have the Village Board give it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.