Gurnee schools want fees from developer

Two school districts serving the Gurnee area dispute the notion that a residential development planned for residents age 50 and older won't have many children needing an education.

Officials from Woodland Elementary District 50 and Warren Township High School District 121 said Tuesday they hope to continue negotiating and reach a resolution about impact fees with the developer of the proposed Wanish Park.

"There are many people 50 and over who have children," Woodland Superintendent Joy Swoboda said at a meeting last week, explaining why impact fees are necessary from Wanish LLC. The fees, often paid to schools and park districts, are intended help offset the cost of the services new residents will need.

If built, Wanish Park would have 97 two-bedroom homes that must be owned by those 50 and older, southwest of Gages Lake and Hunt Club roads in unincorporated Lake County near Gurnee. A county zoning board of appeals conditional-use permit would limit ownership to the 50-and-older crowd.

Plans call for 54 condominiums and 43 townhouses at Wanish Park. The development would cover almost 22 acres within Woodland's and Warren's boundaries, according to documents submitted to Lake County.

Wanish filed a formal objection with Lake County government over the contributions being sought by Woodland and Warren. Lake County's planning, zoning and building committee granted the schools a continuance of an objection hearing that was set for Tuesday.

Swoboda said in a statement Tuesday that Woodland and Warren intend to meet with the developer this week in an effort to come to a resolution on the Wanish Park impact fees.

"As school districts, we support development in Lake County, but we must also advocate for the financial support of the students that we currently serve and those students that we will educate in the future," Swoboda said. "We look forward to meeting with the developer."

Wanish Park's Bob Taylor couldn't be reached for comment.

District 121's two campuses have about 4,000 students and each is at capacity, spokeswoman Carolyn Waller said. It costs about $10,000 to educate a Warren pupil over an academic year.

"Warren Township High School looks forward to meeting with the developer of the Wanish Park plan since it is a public school district's responsibility to monitor new developments and the potential of new students and additional costs," Waller said in a statement.

Woodland has about 7,100 students spread in buildings in Gurnee and unincorporated Gages Lake. District 50's per-pupil spending last year was $9,647.

District 50 board member Carla Little said last week having older adults live at Wanish Park doesn't negate the need for developer impact fees to help pay for new students that might be generated from the project.

"We're long past the days when you're (just) having kids at age 18," Little said.