A Cook County judge has refused, for now, to step in to block the village government in suburban Homewood and a company seeking to redevelop a former country club into a logistics hub, from abiding by the terms of a settlement deal that a group of activists say should be considered void.
On April 6, Cook County Judge Maureen Ward Kirby declined to enter an emergency order sought by the Homewood village government, to give direction on the fate of the settlement agreement, in light of the court’s recent decision to allow the anti-redevelopment activists to intervene as an official party in the proceedings over the developers’ rights to disconnect the former golf course property from Homewood.
In a brief hearing, Judge Kirby noted she only recently was provided with a copy of the settlement agreement. She said she has not yet been asked to grant approval to any settlement.
But she said, to her knowledge, the agreement had been drafted by “competent counsel,” representing clients who believe the settlement to “be binding.”
Kirby further questioned whether she was even going to “adjudicate” the settlement agreement, as part of the proceedings that had centered, to this point, solely on the developer’s request to separate the property from Homewood, and move the project forward.
“This may not even be the appropriate forum,” Kirby said, in response to a suggestion by a lawyer for the activists that the judge could rule on the legitimacy of the settlement agreement at “the appropriate time.”
Judge Kirby convened the hearing in response to an emergency petition submitted by the village of Homewood.
That petition, in turn, had come in response to a letter sent Monday, April 5, by attorneys for the activists, threatening to ask the court to find the village and the developers in contempt and to seek sanctions against them if they continue to move forward with executing the terms of the settlement agreement.
The activists declared the settlement agreement was either “void, or voidable,” because Kirby last week had granted the activists’ request to intervene in the long-running court fight between the developer, identified as W&E Ventures, and Homewood’s elected village government, over the fate of the Calumet Country Club.
The owners of the Calumet Country Club have been in court with the village since 2019, as the owners seek to disconnect the property from Homewood. The village government has, to this point, blocked them from redeveloping the 130-acre property into a hub of distribution centers and logistics facilities.
All parties agree the property can’t continue as a golf course. But the village wants different uses on the property. The activists say they want the property preserved as “greenspace.”
The developer, however, has insisted the project is the only economically viable possibility for the site.
A tax valuation expert testified in court on behalf of the country club land owners that the project would add more than $2.8 million a year in new property tax revenue for local governments, with at least 70% of that going to local schools.
They further testified that the boost in tax revenue should decrease property tax bills for homeowners in the area by hundreds of dollars per year. Homeowners’ property tax bills in the area have increased by more than 60% in the last 10 years, according to data posted by the Cook County Clerk’s office.
The developer has estimated the project would add 1,000 new jobs to the local economy, as well.
After 18 months in court, the developer and the village reached a settlement agreement. In documents posted to the village’s website, Homewood officials said they believed the settlement option was their best change to maintain control of the property. The village indicated they believed they would lose in court.
In the settlement, the village agreed to grant approvals, including rezoning and the creation of a Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) to support the construction of infrastructure for the project.
However, when the project came for a vote, the village board, under pressure from the anti-redevelopment activists, went against their own settlement agreement, and voted the development down.
The developer then moved forward with their plan to disconnect the property from Homewood, while extracting a $250,000 payment from the village for breaking the deal, as required by the settlement agreement.
The developer submitted a formal notice of disconnection and a demand for the $250,000 payment in a letter sent to the village on March 30.
The Homewood Village Board is expected to discuss whether to honor their obligations under the settlement agreement at the board meeting on April 13.
The activists insist the village and developer must, at a minimum, pause any action related to the settlement agreement, since Homewood taxpayers have joined the action. They pointed to an Illinois appellate court decision, which they said blocks the village government from settling a lawsuit, when taxpayers have joined as formal defendants.
“If either W & E or the Village take further actions to work a back-door disconnection in this matter, just days after Judge Kirby has stated that the matter will go forward to a trial under the Disconnection statute, we will be sure to file at a minimum a Motion for Rule to Show Cause why any party still proceeding toward settlement or disconnection over the resident taxpayers' objection should not be sanctioned, if not cited for indirect Contempt of Court,” the activists wrote in their April 5 to the village and the developer. “We also reserve the right to request a dismissal with prejudice of the Petition as a sanction for actions by the Petitioner in this regard.”
The judge, however, declined to settle the thorny dilemma facing the village government at its next meeting, saying she was, at this point, only ruling to allow the five Homewood taxpayers to have their say on the question of whether the developer should be able to disconnect.
The judge gave the intervening activist taxpayers until April 22 to file a brief challenging the developer’s disconnection petition.
The intervening activist taxpayers are represented by attorneys Patrick Keating, of Homewood, and James Tunick, of Chicago.
The developer is represented by attorney Margaret A. Manetti, of the firm of Sosin Arnold & Schoenbeck, of Orland Park.
The village is represented by attorneys Christopher J. Cummings, of Homewood, and Gregory T. Smith, of the firm of Klein Thorpe and Jenkins, of Chicago.