With a last-minute change of heart Thursday, one Will County Board memberderailed a Frankfort Township mobile home park owner's plans to expand withmobile homes for senior citizens on 34 more acres. County Board member William Bruin (R-Crete) decided that a groundswell ofopposition from neighbors, who are his constituents, should outweigh hispersonal belief that the third-phase expansion of the 300-unit Gateway MobileHome Park at Illinois Highway 45 and Steger Road was sensible. Bruin had beenamong the Land Use and Zoning Committee members who voted last month torecommend approval of the project.
"My feeling was that it was proper," Bruin said. "But I also have torespect the wishes of my district and the groundswell of opposition."
Most of the people opposed to the growing density of the mobile home parklive in Green Garden Township, which sits in Bruin's 2nd District.
A majority of County Board members voted in favor of the zoning changesought by Gateway II, Phase III, LLC partner Jim Daley.
The vote was 20-7 in favor of the plan.
However, because the Village of Frankfort formally objected to the plan,County Board rules required a super-majority--21 votes--and Bruin's voteagainst the project left it one vote shy.
The plans called for 144 homes, with a restriction that residents must beat least 55 years old.
Daley plans to file a lawsuit immediately seeking to reverse the decision,his attorney, Gerald Sramek, said after the vote. "Obviously, this is not thefinal decision," he said.
"We were optimistic because the staff recommended [the plan]," Sramek said.But apparently "grass-roots" opposition and Frankfort were enough to sway theboard members."
A group of Green Garden Township officials and residents attended themeeting, joining Paula Wallrich, Frankfort community development director, ina celebration outside the boardroom after the vote.
"This is what government is supposed to do," Wallrich said.
Frankfort officials said they objected to the plan because of its densityand the relatively low property tax revenue that mobile home parks provide.Opponents also were concerned about the effect that a growing mobile home parkmay have on surrounding property values. There are currently 300 homes in thedevelopment, and the proposed Phase III would have pushed that number tonearly 450.
County Board member Glen Warning (R-Frankfort) was disappointed by theoutcome, partly because the development would have given aging Frankfortresidents an affordable way to stay close to their hometown. New constructionin Frankfort has focused too much on high-end housing, Warning said, and manyresidents cannot afford to stay. The mobile homes for seniors presented anaffordable option for many longtime residents, he said.
The county's planning staff had recommended approval of the project becauseit was merely a continuation of the use of surrounding land.
Daley said he doesn't know what else to do with the 34-acre parcel, whichis bounded on two sides by the mobile home park and by Illinois 45 and Stegeron the other sides.
The site is not suitable for single-family homes or a larger commercialdevelopment, he said.
E-mail this story to a friendMore articles on the Metro Southwest home page
