After more than 18 months of trying to get two developers to complete public improvements in a west side subdivision, the city has decided to contract for the work itself and charge the companies anyway.
On Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to exercise its rights under the annexation agreement with the developers and seize an irrevocable letter of credit for $306,686 on file with Harris Bank of Elk Grove Village.
So with the developers’ money in hand, the city plans to finish sidewalks, landscaping and parkways in the 164-home Sterling Manor subdivision west of Randall Road and north of Kaneville Road.
“It was to the point where we really had no other choice,” said Michael Donahue, Geneva’s community development director. “We’ve lost all faith in their ability to perform.”
The sanctions against RWS Properties Corp. of Mokena and Geneva-Sterling Partners, a local firm, are the first in more than 20 years in which the city has had to seize a letter of credit to finish a developer’s job, one official said.
Donahue said the city gave the companies three extensions to complete the public improvements, the first dating back to 1993.
But the city staff met with developers on the site early this month and found that the firms had failed to meet a May 30 deadline, he said. Most of the residential lots are built out and the homes filled with families.
“It just isn’t fair to the people living there that they should go without sidewalks and parkways any longer,” Donahue said.