Sugar Grove schedules Special Board Meeting for Grove TIF

There won’t be a Sugar Grove Board meeting Sept. 3 as originally scheduled.

Village of Sugar Grove President Jen Konen canceled that meeting and scheduled a special board meeting for Sept. 10 to discuss the annexation, zoning and TIF request for Crown Community Development’s The Grove.

The Grove is a proposed 761-acre development that would be situated near the intersection of Interstate 88 and Route 47. It includes a Town Center, single-family and multi-family homes, retail and industrial, commercial and office uses. Crown is requesting $109 million in financial assistance from the village for the master-planned community.

The special board meeting will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove. This is the same location that the previous meeting concerning The Grove was held. That meeting originally began Aug. 22 at Waubonsee Community College, continued Aug. 23 at the college and was extended yet again to Aug. 27 but moved to the church.

Board members Matt Bonnie, Sean Herron, Heidi Lendi, Sean Michels, Michael Schomas and Jaime White did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting discussions. The meeting lasted about 18 hours over the course of the three days.

The Aug. 27 meeting was interrupted just as the public portion was set to commence shortly after midnight Aug. 28.

“Today is now Wednesday the 28th,” a female voice from the audience yelled. “This meeting was advertised for the – I don’t care if I’m out of order – it was advertised for the 27th. It’s no longer the 27th so the public has not been properly notified for this part of the meeting. You need to stop this now. It is not right!”

Village of Sugar Grove attorney Laura Julien responded, “That is incorrect” and explained “this is still a part of the meeting that commenced yesterday.”

A dozen people spoke during the public comment and all but one spoke in opposition to the proposed development.

Sugar Grove resident Pat Gallagher wasn’t one of those who spoke, but he has penned a letter to the Public Access Counselor’s Office requesting an Open Meetings Act review regarding some of the meetings held by the village of Sugar Grove. He said about 500 people signed his letter.

It argues that the village “did not follow its typical protocol of calling members of the public to speak who had signed up” because the list allegedly was misplaced.

“Additionally, at all of the meetings mentioned, Sugar Grove implemented security protocols involving bag checks and metal detectors, which members of the public were required to go through,” Gallagher wrote. “On Aug. 20, several Crown representatives were apparently waved through the security without having to go through the aforementioned bag checks or metal detectors. A video of this incident is attached. We believe this unequal treatment also creates a chilling effect that challenges the meeting’s openness.”

He asks that Sugar Grove “be required to hold another general public comment during reasonable, convenient hours before taking a vote on any matters related to the Crown development,” that meetings start and end at convenient times for the public and for equitable security measures.

The Thoughtful Progress For the I-88/Route 47 Corridor Facebook group has started a petition against the development that it intends on presenting to the village at the Sept. 10 meeting.

Village of Elburn President Jeff Walter also has communicated his opposition to the development. He said the potential traffic increases caused by such a large-scale project as well as the burden it will place on taxpayers are concerning.

“While TIFs can be a useful tool for stimulating economic development, their application in this case raises several concerns,” he wrote. “Specifically, the use of a TIF for a predominantly residential subdivision could strain public services and will shift the financial burden onto existing taxpayers including the residents of Elburn.”