Subdivision brings
flooding concerns
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted
Heather
Fodor has seen the her basement flooded, has seen the
water spray from her sump pump and has seen the standing water in the fields
outside her home.
“Had I
known the problems at the time, I wouldn’t have bought the house,” said Fodor,
who has lived in the Glen Eagle Farm subdivision for seven years in
It was
the concern that her problems might get worse — and that other people’s
problems might just be beginning — that brought Fodor to a public hearing
Tuesday night on the annexation agreement for a 432-home subdivision. Called
the Terraces and Parks of Winchester Heights, the development, planned by
Elgin-based Pulte Homes, is envisioned for the western edge of
About
40 residents appeared at the village hall meeting.
Fodor
said her back yard looks out onto the southwest corner of the 296-acre site
where the subdivision would be built, south of Huntley Road about a half mile
west of Randall Road. About 81 acres of wetland are on the site.
“I just
can’t imagine that they think this is a good idea,” Fodor said as the hours
ticked by and the dozens of people who had come to speak at the public hearing
started to melt away. “I think it’s bad business, I
think it’s bad government.”
Mike Michalski of Carol Stream-based Testing Services Corp.,
whom Pulte had hired to complete a soil report, said the soils on the site have
“suitable bearing capacity to support residential construction.”
Trustee
Nancy Moore was skeptical.
“I
personally would not want to buy a house with a
basement at the water table or just below,” she said.
Michalski’s report recommended minimum basement levels at least 2 feet above
the water table and said some areas would have to be refilled. But he said it
is “fairly typical that there may be spots on the site that need to be remediated.”
Pulte
has said the 432 single-family homes it would build, along with the 15 acres of
commercial development, are quality construction. Almost half of the 296 acres
would be devoted to open space in the form of wetlands, woodlands and parks.
Richard
Flood, attorney for the land owner, said the donations Pulte has offered to pay
Community Unit District 300 — $1.25 million in addition to impact fees — are
unprecedented.
But
Fodor, a school teacher, said it’s not enough to handle the 444 children the
subdivision would bring.
“The
moneys they are offering are payoffs,” she said. “Big enough
to be insulting without being big enough to do anything.”
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