The Village Council is set to vote Tuesday on an addendum that would divide the Nelson Meadow development—originally approved in 2006—into two phases of construction as per the request of the developer, Joel Andersen Homes, LLC.

The addendum is not an amendment to the subdivision itself, but to the Subdivision Improvement Agreement, a unique agreement between the village and the developer that addresses “concerns of the council and the residents,” said Village Manager Dave Fieldman.

Those concerns include public improvements associated with the project, the protection of the site’s trees and construction access points and the flow of construction-related traffic. 

In addition to the project’s phasing, the addendum also modifies timetables stipulated in the 2006 agreement and increases the line of credit the developer must submit. The line of credit ensures the village can complete the mandatory public improvements if the developer fails to do so.

Andersen Homes, which is owned by Downers Grove resident Joel Andersen, needs to submit approximately $510,000 before it can qualify for any village permits. The developer said the required security won’t be an issue.

The addendum was subject to a first reading at the Jan. 18 Village Council meeting, which was attended by numerous residents who voiced concerns about the addendum, as well as issues that date back to the development’s inception.

In 2005, Andersen purchased 4.8 acres of land bordered by Carpenter Street to the east, Jefferson Avenue to the south and Brookbank Road to the west. The parcel was formerly owned by Arthur J. Nelson, who lived in a house on the property for more than 50 years, Andersen said.

The land comprises one the last, if not the last, developable plots within a preexisting neighborhood in Downers Grove, Andersen said. He purchased the land with plans to redevelop.

In February 2006, Andersen sought and received Village Council approval for an 11-lot subdivision. The council’s approval, however, included a Subdivision Improvement Agreement that was without precedent in Downers Grove.

“Because this was the last, great, undeveloped track of land, because there were so many interested parties, we decided to utilize a little more than our ordinary requirements and come to this written contract,” said Mayor Ron Sandack, who was a Village Council commissioner at the time.

Among other provisions, the Subdivision Improvement Agreement specified a required security deposit and set a three-year deadline for the completion of the public improvements. It also guaranteed the construction of sidewalks, as well as the developer’s compliance with regulations for the protection of black walnut trees near the property’s southeast corner set forth by Edith Mukra of the Morton Arboretum and the village forester.

Finally, the agreement set a 32-foot setback for houses constructed along Carpenter and Brookbank. That provision sought to keep the new houses from being too close to the street in order to maintain the character of the neighborhood.

“It is to a benefit of the town,” Andersen said of the agreement. “It’s a better way of explaining things that are going to be improved. It’s a document that really is a good outline.”

Fieldman said the agreement coincided with his arrival at Village Hall and was similar to agreements that had been used in in other towns.  

 A pre-construction meeting was held in October 2006 to bring together the developer, the neighbors and the village to discuss what to expect during construction and set a schedule.

After that meeting, the economy cooled and Andersen decided to delay the construction indefinitely. No permits were pulled, no houses were built and no public improvements were made.

“We knew we should just wait,” Andersen said. “We didn’t want to risk an open development, like there are existing in town, that are going on for a very, very long period of time.”

Andersen put the land up for auction in early 2010, but found no takers.

The developer sent a letter to the village in May 2010 proposing the project’s phasing. The three first-phase properties are situated along Carpenter Street.

“Why not continue the appropriate maintenance of two-thirds of the parcel, and the other third lets go ahead and begin, knowing that the infrastructures is right here outside our front window,” Andersen said.

Andersen said he “didn’t want to put the cart in front of the horse,” but if the addendum is passed by the Village Council Feb. 1, ground will be broken “fairly quickly.” He said a construction schedule will be forthcoming if and after the plan is approved.

Andersen said the entire Phase I construction area will be fenced off and the detention basin will be dug at the beginning of the process, as stipulated in the Subdivision Improvement Agreement. He estimated the digging process to take less than two weeks.

Nelson Meadow will be the "greenest" subdivision in Downers Grove to date, Andersen said. He said the homes will be energy efficient, and the construction process will utilize "reclaiming controls" and responsible waste management.

The developer said he's required by the village to include 35 to 40 trees in the subdivision. In addition, Andersen estimated each new resident would plant four or five of their own trees.

"After a little bit of time, it looks like an area that’s existed for a long time, as it originally designed to be," he said.

Andersen said he plans to begin construction of one home right away. So far, he said, he has confirmed that house and has a design for a second.

“We have people who would like to become residents of Downers Grove,” Andersen said of the buyers of the confirmed house, “which is really what this is all about.”

The developer said it’s more complicated to develop a subdivision like Nelson Meadow because it’s surrounded by a pre-existing neighborhood. There’s “less incentive” to cooperate with neighbors when building on a city’s outskirts, he said.

“We want to move forward at a pace that’s acceptable to the residents,” Andersen said of Nelson Meadow. “I’m sure it’s an inconvenience. But then again, when all their homes were built, I’m sure that was an inconvenience to somebody as well.”

Andersen, Sandack, and Fieldman said guidelines set forth in the 2006 Subdivision Improvement Agreement which are unaffected by the addendum will remain unchanged. The black walnut trees will be protected, the 32-foot setback still will be in effect and public improvements, including the widening of Jefferson Avenue, water-main replacement and improved streets lights will be completed.

However, neighborhood concerns remain.

Jefferson Avenue resident Mark Cronin is concerned about the upkeep of the detention pond. Neighbor Maria Brummel is worried about the safety of the pond. She has three young, "curious" boys and a fourth child on the way.

Several residents who attended the Jan. 18 meeting voiced concerns over the development’s construction entrance. In the original planning, residents fought for the site access point to be moved from Jefferson, a narrow street that would necessitate truck traffic to travel near Hillcrest Elementary School, to Carpenter Street.

Since Phase I will develop the lots on Carpenter, the planned entrance would not be usable for the second part of the project. Beth Riordan expressed concerns about where the Phase II construction entrance would be.

“The construction traffic, it was all supposed to come off Carpenter,” Riordan said. “If it gets to Phase II, where are those trucks going to be coming from? It needs to be addressed before you agree to Phase I because it’s a very important part of Phase II.”

Sandack said the construction entrance issue for Phase II is one of several matters that will need to be addressed.

“That is to change given that this is developing potentially in a different way; that will have to change,” Sandack said of the entrance. “What we intended to do was there will be at least one or many neighborhood meetings, so there will be communication and ideas swapping with respect to the specifics.”

Fieldman said construction entrances ultimately are determined by village staff.

Cronin said the addendum is being rushed through the council without enough neighborhood notification. He said there are issues that need to be resolved before approval is granted.

“Giving them the opportunity to go ahead and proceed with Phase I is a little aggressive,” Cronin said. “It was such a positive experience the first time, now there’s a sour taste in my mouth.”

Cronin said he’s “not confident at all” that Phase II will happen. At the Jan. 18 meeting, other residents voiced the same skepticism.

Because of that, John Schofield, who has maintains the Nelson Meadow Neighbors web site, asked the village to establish concrete public improvement deadlines. The addendum discussed Jan. 18 would give Andersen 18 months to complete Phase I improvements, beginning when a site development permit is granted.

Once the clock starts ticking on Phase II Andersen would have 24 months to finish the improvements, which include extensive enhancements to Jefferson Avenue.

“It’s been too long to put [the Jefferson improvements] on hold in the consideration that something is going to happen because something may not happen,” Schofield said.

The timetable language has since changed.  The latest version of the addendum, public improvements for both phases must be finished within five years of the addendum’s passage, Fieldman said.

Andersen said the thought of completing Phase I and walking away from Phase II never crossed his mind. He thinks the entire development will get done “sooner than later,” he said.

“If we could go ahead and do it in one swoop, we would,” Andersen said. “But that’s not realistic. We know by setting the tone for these initial homes here, we’ll gain the traction and the interest level that will make us more comfortable to move forward in the future.”

Alice Strelau, a resident of Brookbank Road, summed up the neighborhood’s stance Jan. 18.

“The issue is not whether this should be built or not be built, it’s how it gets built,” she said. “It’s important we do stay focused on those details and not let them slip away from us.”