Hoffman Estates trustees have voted to annex land for a disputed development in a decision that many said was rushed through by a majority, including two trustees who are leaving office.
Outgoing Trustees Susan Kenley-Rupnow and Edwin Frank were among five trustees who on Monday approved the annexation and rezoning requests for about 200 acres on the village’s west side, over the objections of planning commissioners and village staff. Trustees Karen Mills, Rodney Rusakiewicz and Lloyd Boester also voted to approve.
In a 4-3 vote last week trustees rejected a Planning Commission recommendation to oppose the development at Shoe Factory and Beverly Roads and accelerated the date for a final vote on the project to just before Kenley-Rupnow and Frank leave office. Their replacements will be sworn in Saturday.
The vote prompted allegations of political favoritism because Kenley-Rupnow received $6,000 from people associated with the development during her unsuccessful run for mayor this month. Mills and Frank also received small contributions from some of the same people.
A 5-2 vote was required Monday to annex the development. Boester, who voted against the project last week, changed his vote Monday.
“There were gaps to be filled, and I saw some changes,” he said of the revised deal. “There were a lot of technical changes, and I was satisfied.”
Several people at the meeting spoke against the project and the trustees’ actions.
“The [Planning Commission] turned this down after a thorough review,” said Ann Severson, who lives near the development site. “I’m having a hard time understanding why the village is in such a hurry.”
In their rejection bid, planning commissioners had said there were too many unanswered questions, specifically about who would pay for updating congested Shoe Factory Road.
Supporters of the plan said they were stuck in a “chicken-egg” situation because the county would not move forward with plans to help pay to widen Shoe Factory until the land was annexed. And the Planning Commission did not want to annex the land until the county committed to paying for the road.
Mayor William McLeod, who voted against the proposal, said it did not represent a good use of the undeveloped land.
McLeod also said rushing the plan smelled of political favoritism because three trustees who voted for it received contributions from people associated with the plan.
The developer, Shoe Factory Road LLC, will have to return to the Planning Commission with plans for the first phase of the residential-commercial project.
