When Elgin leaders gaze into the city’s future, they imagine subdivisions of homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars spreading across the farmland west of Randall Road.
But before a single fancy home is built and brought within the Elgin limits, the city must extend its sewer system beyond Randall. And plans for a sewer station, the linchpin of Elgin’s vision for westward growth, are stalled.
Although funding for the project is in place and a site has been chosen, city officials say they cannot move forward because Pulte Homes Corp. of Hoffman Estates and other property owners have not cooperated with them.
Pulte plans the Kendall Farms subdivision on 160 acres it controls west of Randall between Bowes and Hopps Roads.
The developer controls land where the city wants to connect its sewer system to new sewers for the “far west” area.
Despite letters of intent submitted to the city, Pulte has not granted the easements required for the sewer work. Jerry Deering, Elgin’s community development director, said Wednesday that Pulte told the city it wants the sewer station built at an alternative site.
“We don’t understand why they want to move it exactly,” Deering said.
Elgin officials speculate that the company wants to move the site of the sewer station to maximize the space it can use to build homes.
Deering said the city is open to building the sewer station at a different site–as long as the alternative location serves as large an area as the current location would and the developer is willing to cover the cost of changing plans.
Pulte officials in Hoffman Estates and their attorney, Richard L. Heimberg of Elgin, did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
Mayor Ed Schock said he would speak soon with Pulte officials to urge them to grant the easements.
“I think that is a mistake on their part,” Schock said of the failure to provide the easements. “It’s only going to create ill will, and they shouldn’t do it. The project would be to everyone’s benefit.”
Earlier this year, the City Council approved a plan for developing thousands of acres in the far west section. Officials predict the city eventually could annex as much as 11,000 acres, adding 50,000 residents to its current population of about 90,000.
Those new taxpayers would be relatively wealthy. The guidelines for far west development set minimum prices of $325,000 for single-family homes and $225,000 for townhouses.
Developers already have submitted a proposal for the largest annexation in city history, including 797 homes and an 18-hole golf course in a project called Bowes Creek Estates.
Schock said he expected that Bowes Creek Estates would receive speedy approval from the City Council.
But city officials said the project and others being considered for the far west area cannot proceed until sewer service is extended.
Homes in that part of unincorporated Kane County rely on septic tanks to handle sewage.
The $2 million sewer station would carry sewage from the far west area uphill, into the existing city system.
“We’re sort of at a standstill,” said Tom Armstrong, Elgin’s principal planner.
Armstrong said he did not believe the letters of commitment from Pulte and other property owners promised that the easements would be granted by a certain date. Work on a sewer station project was supposed to have begun two years ago.
The project would take as long as 1 years to complete.
“This does not concern me,” said Peter Bazos, attorney for the developers of Bowes Creek Estates. “It’s going to happen.”
A bevy of other developers, including Kimball Hill Homes of Rolling Meadows and Westchester-based Town & Country Homes, are looking to secure land in the far-west area so they can build more homes.
Town & Country plans to present a proposal for 520 acres. Of the sewer station, Jeff Palmer, the firm’s vice president, said, “We’re happy with it wherever they want to put it.”
