Growing traffic problems and talk of sending Algonquin children to schools in Dundee to reduce crowding has caused residents to become increasingly agitated about residential growth in their village.
So it is little wonder a proposed townhouse development is coming under critical scrutiny.
About 25 residents attended a recent Planning, Building and Zoning Committee meeting to voice their concerns over a proposed 69-unit townhouse development at the intersection of Circle and Huntington Drives.
The wooded, 12.9-acre site sits atop a hill west of Illinois Highway 31, overlooking the Fox River. The development would occupy approximately half the property, with the rest preserved as open space.
Residents of the High Hills Farms subdivision, which faces the property, disputed impact studies presented by developer Sundance Homes of Schaumburg that say the townhouses would add only 15 children to the school system and increase traffic on Huntington Drive by fewer than 50 cars during rush hour.
Attorney Thomas Burney, who represents Sundance, called the additional traffic “an insignificant amount compared to the other traffic on that road.”
Residents disagreed, saying they wait up to 10 minutes to get through the light at Huntington Drive and Illinois Highway 31, and the additional traffic from the proposed development would make the wait even longer.
In addition to traffic problems and school crowding, village trustees are concerned with the number of units planned for the site, what they say is an inadequate number of guest parking spaces and the amount of land the developer would donate.
Trustees have the option of requesting the park donation be either in the form of cash or land. In this case, trustees decided land would be preferable, because the area has no park nearby.
One of Algonquin’s goals is to have a park within walking distance of every house in the village.
The formula the village uses would require a park donation of 1.43 acres for this project. Sundance plans to offer less than half that amount. Village staff recommended reducing the number of units to 58 to free up additional land for the park and for additional guest parking.
Burney said he would present the changes to Sundance, but said he didn’t think they would be acceptable.
“I don’t believe there is going to be a 58-unit plan,” he said. “They can’t afford that loss.”
At a recent meeting, resident Jim Renallo was applauded when he told trustees to “put some pressure on the gentleman. If he wants to come into our town, he’s going to do it on our terms, not his.”
The committee declined to take a vote on the plan until the revisions are made.
In June, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 to recommend preliminary approval of the plan.
John Near, a board member at that time, voted against the project, saying, “What is legal and what is right are not always the same thing. There isn’t another piece of property like this in Algonquin, and I’m not anxious to see it covered with pavement.”
The Plan Commission voted 6-0 against the project in July after almost 100 residents showed up to protest the plan.
