James Corso may soon get to develop his five-acre parcel now that more than a year of wrangling with the village and county appears to be almost over.
The Orland Park Plan Commission approved the 20-unit town home project Tuesday night despite a housing density that had been a sore point between the developer and the village. The plan for 4.45 units per acre exceeds the village’s zoning requirement of 2.5 to 4 units per acre for the site at 16500 S. Wolf Rd.
The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Village Board for a formal decision.
One year ago, the commission recommended the approval of another version of the project with even more units, but the Village Board rejected the plan for 24 homes because of excessive density. Corso then decided last summer to take his project to the county for development, since the parcel had not yet been annexed to the village and remained in unincorporated Orland Township. His proposal to the county was raised to 30 homes.
Corso justified the higher density because nearby undeveloped property was granted a higher zoning density two years ago. The Corso parcel borders property that ranges from 6 to 10 units per acre.
The village had maintained that the proposed 1,500-acre Spring Creek development was rezoned with a higher density in places because of the overall park and school donations that accompanied the project. A special zoning designation for large-scale projects was also created to prevent other developers from citing individual Spring Creek parcels as a precedent, said village officials.
Negotiations eventually brought the developer back to the village last month with a scaled down 20-unit version and once again seeking annexation to Orland Park.
