New street of luxury homes could cost Arlington Heights 1,300 trees

A new street with 13 luxury homes has been proposed for a nearly 5-acre lot in Arlington Heights, but nearby residents are upset that construction would mean removing more than 1,300 trees.

Christina Court, a proposed street off East Olive Street between Rand Road and Dryden Avenue, would have 13 single family homes and a lot of water retention. The project will be in front of the village board for approval on Monday night, but during a plan commission meeting earlier this month residents expressed concerns with the project about flooding and the disruption of wildlife. The plan commission unanimously recommended the project.

Jon Isherwood of K. Hovnanian, the builder developing the project, said they have been working with Arlington Heights village staff members on the project for nearly a year.

The proposed homes would each be on lots that average .25 acre and would be priced starting around $850,000, Isherwood said.

A survey of the 1,370 trees on the property found that only 84 of them were in good quality and condition, said Ron Adams, engineer for the project. Because of the few good trees on the site and the location where those healthy trees sit, developers said they plan to remove all 1,370 trees from the property.

"There is no opportunity to save them ... because of the quality of the trees in general," said Karl Krogstad, arborist and landscape architect for the project. The trees that are in good condition are not of "desirable species" to be kept, he said.

Residents said they didn't care about the condition of the trees, but enjoyed living near a wooded area with a lot of wildlife.

"There's a lot of animals and birds there that are a big part of the neighborhood," said nearby resident Jim Charbonneau. "By reducing the total volume of trees and cover in the development area, that's going to really compress the amount of space the wildlife has to create a habitat. We'll lose all of that character in the neighborhood."

Developers for Christina Court said they will add back about 100 trees to the site during construction and landscaping, which meets village requirements and plan commissioners said there isn't much they can do beyond that to preserve the trees.

"Would I like to see it remain a wooded lot? Yes. I'm just that kind of person who likes to enjoy the outdoors," said Commissioner Mary Jo Warskow. "But this is private property, and we cannot mandate that somebody can't build on a private property."

Residents brought up other concerns with the project during the plan commission meeting as well. Developers said the project will include a retention area, but residents were still concerned that it would not be enough to mitigate large rainfalls.

"When I heard it's only going to happen every 100 years, well I've lived there 15 years and it's already happened at least three times," said resident Ray Glassman of overflow from other retention ponds.

Resident Rick Giovanni asked for a sidewalk connecting Christina Court to another nearby neighborhood so walkers and bikers would not have to go out to the busier Olive Street, but developers said the changes in grade level make it impossible to put a sidewalk without steps, which would not be handicap accessible.

The project is up for village board approval during the 8 p.m. meeting on Monday, June 1 at Village Hall, 33 S. Arlington Heights Road. If approved, developers said the homes on Christina Court should be completed in mid-2017.