Despite objections from the potential beneficiaries and many residents, the Mundelein village board on Monday approved a tentative plan for how much the would-be developer of the proposed Ivanhoe Village development should pay the schools and library that will be affected by its construction.
The Blackhawks-owning Wirtz family and its Wirtz Realty Corporation wants to construct more than 3,100 houses and multifamily units — as well as retail and industrial buildings — on the 773-acre ancestral property near Route 60 and Peterson Road.
The homes, businesses and necessary infrastructure would be constructed in phases over 25 years, officials have said. Build-out could cost Wirtz Realty $2 billion, a company representative said Monday night.
This is what the Ivanhoe Village development proposed for Mundelein could look like from the air.
Courtesy of Ivanhoe Village
The term sheet approved Monday calls for Fremont School District 79 and Mundelein High School District 120 to receive payments based on the type of homes constructed and the number of bedrooms they contain. After a $1.1 million advance, payments will be delivered when homes are ready for occupancy, documents indicate.
Additionally, the Fremont Public Library District is set to receive $300 per residential unit constructed.
The arrangement is expected to generate about $6.6 million for District 79, $4.3 million for District 120 and $947,000 for the library, Village Administrator Eric Guenther said. District 79 officials want $90 million from Wirtz Realty and District 120 officials want $22 million, he said.
The planned fee schedule won’t become final until Wirtz Realty and the village approve a much broader development agreement.
District 79 and District 120 representatives have said the proposed payments are significantly lower than the funds that’ll be needed to build facilities to accommodate the enrollment boom Ivanhoe Village is expected to create.
The disagreement has pitted the schools against Wirtz Realty and Mundelein officials.
The plan approved Monday progressed even as state lawmakers drafted legislation designed to mandate impact fees from real-estate developers to affected local agencies across Illinois.
The state House approved the legislation last week; the Senate has not yet debated the plan.
Village leaders followed “current standards” for the fee deal, Guenther said in an email.
The Mundelein Park & Recreation District’s Kyle Berg, standing at right, shares his agency’s opposition to being left out of the discussion of impact fees from the proposed Ivanhoe Village development during Monday’s village board meeting.
Courtesy of Mundelein
More than a dozen Mundelein-area residents spoke against the plan Monday. So did Kyle Berg, the Mundelein park district’s director of recreation and facilities services, who criticized the planned lack of funds for his agency and alleged it was unfairly cut out of negotiations. Ivanhoe Village residents surely will enjoy park district programs and facilities even though the development will have its own parks, he said.
District 120 Superintendent Kevin Myers and District 79 Superintendent Trisha Kocanda renewed their objection to the deal, too.
“We cannot absorb this impact,” Kocanda said.
Only one person — Bill Shiner, owner of the Mundelein Crossings shopping center southeast of the Wirtz land — spoke in favor of the plan. He said the new homes and their residents will benefit the businesses in his center.
Entrepreneur Bill Shiner, standing at right, speaks in support of the proposed Ivanhoe Village development during Monday’s Mundelein village board meeting.
Courtesy of Mundelein
The board approved the plan with a 5-1 vote. Trustee Kara Lambert was the lone dissenter. Audience members booed each “yes” vote and cheered when Lambert said “no.”
Unlike many suburbs, Mundelein hasn’t had an ordinance specifying impact fees. As was the case for Ivanhoe Village, terms have been negotiated case by case.
That changed Monday night when, in addition to the Wirtz deal, the board unanimously approved calculations for future impact fees with other developers.
