Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles believes he is making the best of a bad situation in considering a newly revised plan to develop the 147 acres on the southeast corner of Palatine and Barrington Roads. But that still may not make Inverness and South Barrington residents happy.
Tatooles said the 210 homes proposed for the site, including 30 stand-alone, single-family homes and 180 single-family homes in clusters, are an acceptable improvement over previous plans for the site. The new plan also would have 53 percent of the land remain permanent open space.
In earlier incarnations, the developer, Palatine Road and Barrington Road LLC, had included 500 town homes, up to 200 assisted-living units and about 400,000 square feet of commercial buildings.
The homes in the Glens of Inverness, slated to cost in the mid-$500,000 range, said developer Dennis Cortesi, will be 2,500 to 5,000 square feet in size. Cortesi said buffers will be included in the site plan to protect the wetlands there.
The homes will be built without designated lots, to ensure that the open space owned by the homeowners association would be permanent and properly maintained. Thus, the buildings would be, in effect, condominiums, with all the open space owned by the homeowners association.
Cortesi said the units would be aimed at empty-nesters, but residents at a recent meeting were skeptical that homes that large would not have children.
Under current plans, the gated and fenced community will have its main entrance on Palatine Road, but fire and police said they want a second entrance, which probably would have an automated entrance, on Barrington Road
Tatooles indicated to the dozen South Barrington residents who attended the meeting, during which the developer gave a review of the project, that it was important that the land not be left in unincorporated Cook County.
He said there were definite benefits in having the development under the control of a municipality rather than the county.
Facing some intense questioning from South Barrington residents, Tatooles said that if South Barrington could come up with a similar plan that would reduce the density and eliminate commercial development on the site, they were welcome to do so.
After months of discussions with South Barrington, the developer was unable to reach any such agreement.
Inverness neighbors Barrington and South Barrington must also agree to the plan.
The next step is a public hearing on a more detailed plan scheduled before the Plan Commission on Nov. 30 at the Palatine Township offices.
