Circuit Court Judge Peter Grometer has dismissed a homeowners’ lawsuit against the proposed 738-acre Fox Mill subdivision in unincorporated Kane County.
Grometer ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims.
“We’re very pleased, needless to say, and the judge’s ruling is consistent with what we said all along, which is that the plaintiffs really didn’t have a case,” said Marvin Tenenbaum, an attorney for the development.
The ruling came after Grometer heard three days of testimony last week and indicated then that he would dismiss the case.
The plaintiffs had argued that Fox Mill is an inappropriate use of the land, that the development will be too dense and that marshland will be adversely affected by the development.
“It’s a disappointment, there’s no doubt, but the greater disappointment and the biggest setback is for the people of Kane County,” said Mike Tyrrell, chairman of E-3, the group that originally filed the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs also argued that the Kane County government had ignored its rules by failing to give the proper amount of review time to the appropriate agencies. The suit named Kane County Development Director Phillip Bus as one of the defendants.
E-3, which has fought the development for 3 1/2 years, was dropped as a plaintiff after filing the suit, when it was ruled that the organization owns no land and has no standing in a zoning issue, Tyrrell said.
“That a single, non-elected individual of the county government has the latitude and the discretion to eliminate and ignore the input of vital governmental agencies is a scary thing,” Tyrrell said.
But Tenenbaum said that the judge’s ruling proved that proper procedure was followed.
The developers plan to build a subdivision with 679 homes, 20 acres of commercial development, a waste-water treatment plant, a recreation center and an indoor-outdoor farm market.