District 100 school board sends Ridgeland Estates proposal back to drawing board

The proposed Ridgeland Estates subdivision has gone back to the drawing board after the Berwyn South School District 100 School Board voted May 26 against two measures that Kasper Development needed in order to break ground.

Kasper’s plans call for 29 single-family homes starting at $400,000 on a 3.8-acre parcel of land that abuts Freedom Middle School, 3016 S. Ridgeland Ave.

Kasper on June 16 will return to the Berwyn Zoning, Planning and Development board with revised plans, Berwyn Development Corp. Executive Director David Hulseberg said.

Kasper on May 28 filed a revised plan “similar to the prior plan, less one lot and not sharing a drive [or] alley with Freedom Middle School,” Hulseberg said.

The zoning board’s recommendation will come before the City Council in July, Hulseberg said.

“The new proposal does not provide any of the prior benefits that District 100 would have enjoyed,” Hulseberg said. “It is important to note that the prior plan was designed to address the school district’s concerns and wishes.”

District 100 nixed two measures needed for Ridgeland Estates to progress.

The first was a 4-1 rejection of an intergovernmental agreement with Berwyn “to provide reimbursement to the school district” for a parking lot and construction of a sidewalk and lighting for shared use by the city, the school district and residents of Ridgeland Estates.

In addition to providing land for the shared parking lot, Kasper offered to build an additional emergency vehicle access point for Freedom Middle School and sidewalk access to the adjacent Baseball Alley fields.

Hulseberg told City Council members that Freedom Middle School, which was built more than 20 years ago, can only be accessed by emergency vehicles on one side and that Kasper would add another access point if the subdivision was approved.

School board members Elizabeth Jimenez, Claudine Andrews, Coryn Steinfeld and Joel Gonzalez voted against the intergovernmental agreement between District 100 and the city. Amber Dawn supported the measure. Board members Sarah Lopez and Andrea Dressel abstained. Both women work for the city.

During the public comment portion of the school board meeting, residents noted Mayor Robert Lovero’s support of Ridgeland Estates and urged Lopez and Dressel to recuse themselves to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Dressel urged board members to support the intergovernmental agreement with the city, saying the development would happen with or without the school board. She also cited the need for additional emergency vehicle access to the middle school.

“This is solely specific to the school district obtaining a small plot of land next to Freedom Middle School to create a parking lot and also to create a safer space for fire access to our buildings. It is not around a development,” Dressel said, adding that the measure also bound the school district to “an agreement to work together to make it a more welcoming area surrounding Freedom Middle School for our students.”

Residents attending the meeting opposed the development.

“The real estate market has been booming this year, and there’s a housing shortage and it is not slowing down anytime soon,” Anna Wagner said. “If we’re going to do a free-market approach, then let’s do it all the way. You can go back and say, ‘We just want to see what else is out there.’ I don’t understand why we’re giving away the largest plot of land we have to one developer that doesn’t even have a website. We can’t even look to see what he’s done before.”

Resident Marisol Brambila said Ridgeland Estates would lead to gentrification.

“I urge you to vote against a housing development project that leads to [an] increase of racial inequity between racial groups here in Berwyn. Voting against the project is the only way the school board can promote racial equity,” Brambila said.

Jiminez agreed.

“I agree our staff deserves and needs a space for parking. I agree the surrounding area needs to be safe. But saying yes to something like this is saying yes to gentrification and pushing out the people in our community,” she said. “That’s something many of our residents are feeling – being pushed out. As a person of color, that is discrimination. And gentrification.”

The second measure the school board rejected was a real estate purchase and sale contract and shared easement agreement between District 100 and Kasper to purchase the parking lot from Kasper.

Dawn urged board members to support the measure because the parking lot would cost taxpayers about $300,000 out-of-pocket.

“One way or the other, this estate thing is going to happen,” she said. “We have no power over that. That’s going to happen either way. If the contractor or development group pulls out and that area does remain industrial, anything can go in there.”