Under a development agreement approved by Homer Glen trustees, the unfinished Cedar Brooke Estates subdivision will have a model home by spring to spur sales and completed streets, sewers and parkways.
The subdivision at 151st Street and Cedar Road is in foreclosure and only one house of a planned 30 was completed.
“It (the agreement) addresses what happens to the property while it’s under development,” Village Attorney Mark Sterk said last week.
The village board, with one trustee absent, unanimously approved the agreement with Teton Development, LLC, a subsidiary of Burr Ridge-based Beechen & Dill Homes. The housing development company is the only one that “staff feels has seriously investigated the purchase of this unfinished, challenged subdivision,” according to a meeting agenda supplement.
More Top Picks Abdominal Migraine In Children What Parents Miss
“We like the overall area, we like Homer Glen, we like the proximity that the community has to local amenities,” Matt Dill, president of Beechen & Dill Homes, said in an interview.
He said the model home is expected to be constructed late this fall, and once homes are sold, they will be built.
“We’ll have a model home staffed, and we’ll be offering five or so different model homes … all built to order,” he said.
Teton Development, LLC, will be responsible for final street surface installation, stormwater detention, water and sewer improvements; snow plowing until the village accepts the roadways; as well as sidewalk and parkway tree installation under the agreement.
“We can use this as a model going forward,” Village Manager Cameron Davis said of how tree planting has been scheduled. Effects of the emerald ash borer led to the stipulation that no more than 10 trees of one species can be planted.
The village agreed to foot the bill for street lighting from the $60,000 that remains from the former developer’s letter of credit. Davis said the money would be returned to the bank if not used, and Dill had indicated the lighting could cost up to $48,000, an amount the developer could not afford, according to the meeting agenda supplement.
Three homes will be required to carry flood insurance because they would be in an area subject to flooding, said Scott Schreiner, president of DesignTek Engineering, which will help the new developer determine what engineering improvements need to be made.
Trustees George Yukich, Marcia De Vivo and Margaret Sabo wanted additional requirements with the agreement — including standard mailboxes, three years of monitoring to ensure appropriate plant installation and maintenance for the wetland area, and lighting options for the International Dark Sky Community.
“It would be nice if you would promote dark sky-friendly lighting,” Sabo said. “… People would look to your subdivision in a different way.”
In other news, trustees approved a zoning ordinance amendment regulating donation drop-off boxes. And Mayor Jim Daley said the village plans to formulate an ordinance imposing significant fines for tampering with culverts and overflows. The impetus was the discovery that a subdivision’s detention pond was intentionally plugged with concrete, which posed safety and drainage issues.