Here, where the meandering Fox River bends west, a rare red-shouldered hawk roosts amid a forest of oak trees, stout blue-eyed grass and purple phlox.
Shooting star blooms blood red in the springtime. Weeping willows brush the river bank in summer and mulberries mature to a ripe hue.
A few wild deer, foxes and other small woodland creatures roam this 91 acres in southeastern McHenry County known as ”the Grove,” which gave its name to the village of Fox River Grove
But though this area of the village has drawn picnickers and nature lovers for decades, it is not a park or a nature preserve; it is owned by Citicorp. And it is surrounded by suburban sprawl.
Now, if an Oak Brook developer has his way, the woods and meadow will soon give way to rooftops, aluminum siding and concrete driveways.
Jerry DeGrazia has a contract to buy the land from Citicorp, and wants to build 195 upscale homes on the property. And though some residents and preservationists are determined to save it and its nearly 100 varied species of plants, some in the village don`t think development is such a bad idea.
”Generally, it would increase the number of higher-priced houses in Fox River Grove,” said Daniel Shea, village president.
And that, of course, would translate into increased tax revenues for the village from the $200,000-and-up homes, Shea said.
The development would bring other benefits. ”We have at times had a very limited water supply,” Shea said. ”Mr. DeGrazia`s plan includes another well. We would get a big increase in water and all the treatment that goes with it.”
The conflict between preservationists and those who see the development as a way to broaden the tax base will be played out Tuesday night at a public hearing of the village Planning Commission and Zoning Board at the Algonquin Road School.
School children and other residents who are determined to save the Grove already have sent scores of letters to the village. And a group of residents calling themselves the Grove Alliance has launched a petition campaign for 1,700 signatures, said Sandy James, a group spokeswoman.
DeGrazia contends that he is sensitive to the concerns of the community and the aesthetic value of the Grove. In fact, his development plan calls for a pedestrian pathway that would link the Grove to the village, ponds and a riverfront picnic area.
That will apparently take some doing. DeGrazia`s plan has also drawn the fire of the McHenry County Defenders, an environmental group. The group`s director, Jerry Paulson, called DeGrazia`s proposal to cash-short Fox River Grove ”municipal blackmail.”
He said the plan boils down to ”a sophisticated developer dangling money for developing the village`s namesake-the last piece of open space in the town and a major landmark in the county,” Paulson said. ”It`s one of those offers that they are going to find very hard to refuse.”
”Once bulldozers and construction workers get in there and start rolling over the land, the trees are going to die. The best thing to be done is to keep it as a public conservation area.”
Like the Grove Alliance, Paulson thinks the land should be designated for open space and recreational uses, but not just for the sake of the animals that live in the forest or for the land`s historic value. In fact, Paulson contends, the land may not be suited for development.
”The reason it hasn`t been developed in the last decade or so is the site has severe environmental problems, including highly erodible soils,”
Paulson said.
Grove rooters hope the village will reject the development plan and that the McHenry County Conservation District will buy the Grove and preserve it as open space.
But though district officials have acknowledged interest in the land, they can do little more toward acquiring it because the property is under contract to DeGrazia, said Steve Weller, district director.
Meanwhile, James, her husband, Gordon and even their 10-year-old son, Jeff, are working hard with other members of The Grove Alliance to garner support. That includes selling ”Save the Grove” T-shirts to help pay the costs of an attorney the group has hired.
”People have to live somewhere,” Gordon James said. ”But if you don`t have checks and balances on these developers, everybody loses.”
