A group of Homewood residents, who are among the activists opposed to the redevelopment of a struggling country club into a logistics hub, have filed a petition in court, asking a Cook County judge to essentially allow them to undo a lawsuit settlement agreement their village’s elected leadership approved to allow the developer to disconnect the proposed development site from the village of Homewood.
On March 12, attorney Patrick Keating, of Homewood, announced he was filing the petition in Cook County Circuit Court, on behalf of named intervenors Elizabeth Varmecky, Casey Kueltzo, Danielle Nolen-Ragland, Kathryn Jakubowski and Carolyn Notorangelo. The petition identifies each of them as taxpayers in the village of Homewood.
The petition was trumpeted by the anti-redevelopment activist group, identified as South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete. Varmecky is identified as a leader within that organization, as well.
The group has vocally opposed the effort to redevelop the property, located near the busy junction of Dixie Highway and Interstates 80/294 in Cook County’s south suburbs.
The group pressured Homewood village officials for weeks to vote down the redevelopment, defying the terms of a legal settlement agreement the same village officials had approved just weeks earlier.
The dispute centered on the plans by the developer known as Diversified Partners to build distribution centers and logistics facilities on the site of the property known as the Calumet Country Club.
Diversified Partners negotiated a deal to purchase the economically struggling golf property. Homewood officials agreed the country club business model was no longer viable for the property. But they opposed the developer’s plans for the property, and indicated they would reject the proposal.
The developer, however, insisted the project was the only economically viable project for the site, and sued the village in 2019, seeking a court order allowing them to disconnect the property from Homewood. The 130-acre property is surrounded on three sides by the city of Hazel Crest.
The village and developer sparred for 18 months in court, before reaching a settlement agreement. In documents posted to the village’s website, Homewood officials said they believed the settlement option was their best chance to maintain control of the property. They indicated they believed they would lose in court.
Under the terms of the settlement, the village agreed to quickly review the plans, and grant approvals, including the rezoning sought by the developers and a Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) to support the construction of infrastructure for the project.
Instead, village officials went against their own settlement agreement, and voted down the proposed redevelopment, at the demand of the anti-redevelopment activists.
Following the vote, Diversified Partners CEO Walt Brown Jr. indicated he would exercise his rights under the settlement agreement, and disconnect the property from Homewood, while extracting a $250,000 payment from the village for breaking their deal.
Brown has said he believes the development can go forward with or without approval from the village of Homewood, under the terms of the settlement agreement.
Those activists, however, have now set their sights on shredding the settlement agreement.
Saying they are “taking on the fight that Village Hall won’t,” the Homewood residents filed their petition, seeking court permission to intervene in the legal fight.
They assert they have the right to oppose the disconnection in court, as taxpayers, under state law.
“The only other party that could possibly represent the interests of the Homewood taxpayers in this action would be the government officials of the Village of Homewood…,” the residents said in their petition to intervene. “The Homewood government in recent weeks, by words and action, confirmed they no longer have interest in defending the case, and so it cannot adequately represent the interests of the Homewood taxpayers going forward.”
In the petition, they assert they are opposing the Calumet Country Club disconnection because of various “adverse effects” to Homewood that would allegedly follow the disconnection and redevelopment of the property. These include environmental problems, associated with the proposed industrial uses, “lowered property values … decreased roadway safety, a substantial reduction of greenspace and park land in the community, and a loss of faith in local government.”
The petition also asserts the disconnection would result in “increased taxes” on Homewood property owners, by shrinking Homewood’s tax base.
The petition does not address findings by a tax valuation consultant, filed in court, which indicated redevelopment of the property would reduce Homewood property owners’ tax bills by hundreds of dollars a year.
They further argue the deal should be voided because it was negotiated in closed-door sessions, denying residents the chance to object until a deal was struck. And they said they believe the deal was based on the “now disproved belief” that the developer could simply disconnect the property, annex it to Hazel Crest, and build out the property, on Homewood’s back door.
The mayor of Hazel Crest, however, has since spoken out against the project.
An attorney for the owners of the Calumet Country Club property did not respond Friday to an inquiry from the Cook County Record concerning the petition to intervene.