Vote on golf course awaits
Homewood’s Village Board will vote Tuesday on an ordinance that, if approved, would allow the former Calumet Country Club to disconnect from the village and render moot a lawsuit pending in court that seeks to achieve the same goal.
The vote comes as village officials say they are bound to honor a settlement agreement approved in late January with Diversified Partners/W&E Ventures, which last year bought the property, northwest of Dixie Highway and 175th Street, and plans to redevelop it.
The previous owners of the golf course, which was founded in 1901 and annexed to Homewood in 1980, had filed a lawsuit in July 2019 seeking to disconnect the portion of the property that is in Homewood. A judge recently allowed a group of village residents to intervene in that case.
The settlement agreement called upon village officials to consider Diversified’s plan and rezoning the property that is within the village, but the Village Board voted March 9 against the rezoning.
Under the terms of the agreement, Diversified could continue the disconnection in Cook County Circuit Court or have the village approve an ordinance allowing the disconnection. Chris Cummings, Homewood’s village attorney, said Friday if the board approves disconnection, it would essentially make moot the pending court case.
Mayor Rich Hofeld said that the vote on the ordinance is part of the village’s commitment cemented under the agreement with Diversified.
“We’re bound by the terms of the settlement,” Hofeld said Friday.
Homewood officials believe that, once disconnected from the village, the property will be annexed by neighboring Hazel Crest, which surrounds the golf course on three sides and 12 acres of which are in that community.
Walt Brown Jr., Diversified’s chief executive officer, said Friday he was unsure of what his company’s next step would be after the property is no longer part of Homewood.
“We’re looking at all of our options,” he said. “We’re going to follow through with the settlement agreement.”
Diversified proposed building up to 800,000 square feet of warehouse space on the land, and residents in Homewood’s Governors Park neighborhood, immediately south of the golf course, expressed concerns about noise, truck traffic and possible loss of their homes’ values.
Brown said he did not know if his company would pursue annexation to Hazel Crest, and elected leaders in that community had, in February, been adamant in their stance that they would not welcome the development.
“We do not believe it is in the best inter
ests of our region,” Mayor Vernard Alsberry said after a closed-door meeting in which the development was discussed.
“We do not want to do business with this developer,” he said at the time.
Elizabeth Varmecky, among the five Homewood residents allowed to intervene in the disconnection case by Judge Maureen Ward Kirby, said Friday she was unsure what the residents’ position would be should the Village Board approve the disconnection ordinance.
She is part of the group South Suburbs for Greenspace Over Concrete, formed in opposition to Diversified’s plans, and Varmecky said members would be distributing fliers this weekend in the Governors Park neighborhood to make residents aware of the pending board vote.
In an April 5 letter to attorneys for Homewood and Diversified, Patrick Keating, an attorney representing the residents, said he considered any steps toward effecting the disconnection, such as the pending ordinance vote, “to be legally unauthorized and improper.”
In his letter, Keating said that if Homewood or the property owner “take further actions to work a backdoor disconnection” in the matter, the residents might ask the court to impose sanctions or seek a ruling of contempt of court.
In his letter, Keating said that if Homewood or the property owner “take further actions to work a backdoor disconnection” in the matter, the residents might ask the court to impose sanctions or seek a ruling of contempt of court.
Judge Kirby issued an order following a brief hearing Tuesday, April 6, that her decision to allow residents to have a voice in the disconnection did not invalidate terms of Homewood’s settlement agreement. The village had asked the judge for clarity because of conflicting claims by the developer and the residents.
Kirby has set an April 23 status hearing on the residents’ case.
Arizona-based Diversified had, in a letter March 30, sent notice of disconnection to the village, seeking an ordinance vote.
After the settlement agreement was approved in January, Homewood established an escrow account, putting $500,000 into it, according to Cummings.
If Diversified’s plan had been approved, that money would have been put toward a $1 million payment to the developer, he said.
As it stands, the village will get back half the money and Diversified will receive $250,000 to cover its costs related to the disconnection litigation as well as expenses related to its “prior efforts to seek redevelopment rights in Homewood.”