A controversial plan for a residential subdivision in an area surrounded by farmland has received approval from a McHenry County Board committee.
The board’s Planning and Development Committee voted 5-2 Friday to approve developer Jim Hennig’s request to build Northwoods, a subdivision of 23 homes on a 71-acre parcel in a rural area of the county.
The proposal now goes to the full County Board.
The lots, about 1 1/2 miles east of Illinois Highway 23 between Harvard and Marengo, are bordered on three sides by farms that range in size from 7 to 80 acres. Neighbors of the proposed subdivision have petitioned the County Board to keep Northwoods out. Committee members Ann Gilman and Don Larson agree with the neighbors.
Land in the proposed subdivision is considered unfarmable.
“But this plan is far too dense for the area,” Gilman said. “The neighbors have done their homework. This really goes against the spirit of our planned-development ordinance.”
Although the land is zoned for agriculture, Hennig has petitioned the county to relabel the parcel for estate zoning under the planned-development ordinance. The issue is expected to go before the County Board in October.
An original petition to rezone the Northwoods property was brought before the county in 1995 but failed to win approval. Hennig filed a lawsuit in October 1995, calling that decision “an abuse of discretion” and arbitrary and unreasonable.
Jim Bishop, an attorney representing Hennig, would not comment on whether the lawsuit would be dropped in light of the committee’s recommendation.