www.rrstar.com
Poplar Grove mobile home park developers plan to sue village
- By Susan Vela
Rockford Register Star
Posted Apr. 16, 2014 @ 10:54 pmPOPLAR GROVE — Developers whose plans for a mobile-home park were turned down unanimously last month are threatening to seek a court review of the village’s handling of their special-use permit applications.
The essence of the complaint, project manager Tim McCarty said, would be that the developers followed village rules to apply for the permits needed to proceed on Hawthorn Meadows North and Hawthorn Meadows South.
Developers behind Flora Meadows LLC contend that village officials kept asking for information that wasn’t always required and that they were the ones who violated their own ordinance and development agreements regarding the property.
They needed the permits to build the 284 units, a community recreation area and an office on 72 acres near Britnie Drive and Poplar Grove Road.
Board members’ said the developers hadn’t submitted a wetland delineation report and other environmental information. A third reason for denial was the planned construction of the community recreational area in a 100-year floodplain.
“This does not meet the intent of the code,” reads a document explaining the village’s findings of fact. “It does not make sense that this community recreational area should be located in an area that could potentially be underwater.”
Linda Comstock, who lives near the proposed mobile homes, approves of the village’s decision.
“I don’t want those,” she said. “My property values are already low enough.”
Village Administrator Mark Lynch said the developers have 90 days from the board’s March 10 vote to file their court complaint.
“The state of Illinois controls this,” he said. “Ultimately, (the state) set the legal standards by which the village has to accept or deny.
“I don’t think they’ll ever be able to meet the floodplain requirements.”
Lynch noted that the board can’t consider public opinion in its decision-making, despite the numerous community members who crowded the board rooms to protest the parks.
Lona Snyder, 67, also lives near the proposed project. With the understanding that managers of mobile-home parks help determine their reputations, she still wishes the developers would drop the proposal.
“That would make things a lot easier,” she said.