Wauconda Mayor Jim Keagle is pessimistic that meetings between the village and C&H Development will resolve their differences over the density and lot sizes of the proposed Roney Farms residential development.
”I don`t think it has much of a chance,” Keagle said. ”I don`t want to kill it, but I don`t think it`s going to work out.”
The developer`s plan for the 440-acre property northeast of Wauconda calls for the annexation of the land to Wauconda and the construction of 805 homes and an 18-acre golf course.
A meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, with a Village Board vote on the proposed site plan for the parcel set for May 5. A public hearing on the annexation agreement has been set for May 26.
If the site plan fails to win approval, however, ”then there really isn`t much reason to go on with the annexation,” C&H partner Ed Connell conceded late last week in a telephone interview.
That doesn`t mean the project will die, Connell said.
C&H has already approached officials in Round Lake, Island Lake and Lakemoor about creating an annexation corridor that would allow the annexation of the property to one of those communities, should Wauconda vote down the site plan.
”It`s not a question of us giving up on them, it`s a question of them giving up on us,” Connell said. ”Their way of fighting this has been to delay and procrastinate and hope we`ll get tired or go broke and go away. We won`t go away, we`ll just go elsewhere. We`ll go to another community.”
The possibility that the project will be annexed and developed within another community is one of the things that worries Keagle.
If that happened, Wauconda would have to deal with the population and traffic impact of the property without reaping the benefit of new property tax revenue, Keagle said.
C&H began planning the Roney Farms development three years ago. The developer made concessions last fall, reducing the number of homes from 840 to 805 and increasing the amount of open space. Keagle believes the lot sizes are still too small, however.
”I thought that it looked kind of tight. I don`t know if we should have that kind of development out in that area,” he said.
The 1-acre lot sizes the village`s Plan Commission recommended just aren`t feasible for the moderately priced homes C&H wants to build, Connell argued. The development calls for family and empty nester houses, ranging from $125,000 to $400,000.
”It`s a nice mix. It mirrors the mix of Wauconda right now,” Connell said.
More Top Picks Best Mechanical Keyboards For Gaming
At a Village Board meeting last week, Connell`s partner, Greg Hummel, was equally adamant in his statements to the board.
”We have gone as far as we can go,” referring to the reduction of units to 805.