Uncertain future between Neumann Homes, Gilberts

Neumann Homes' announcement this week that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy means an uncertain future for an agreement between the homebuilder, the village of Gilberts and Community Unit District 300.

Under that agreement, Gilberts loaned the Warrenville-based homebuilder $1.5 million last year to buy the land on which Gilberts Elementary School was later built.

The deal stipulated that Neumann would pay back the loan at 6.5 percent interest. But if the developer were unable to pay back the sum by Nov. 30, the money Gilberts was owed would come out of District 300's share.

That is, Gilberts would withhold the district's impact fees, which developers pay to cover the cost of educating new students, until the village had the full $1.5 million, plus interest.

And with construction stopped in Neumann's Conservancy subdivision in Gilberts, that's exactly what the village has done.

So far, the village has collected almost $800,000 in developer fees, Village Administrator Ray Keller said.

But that doesn't necessarily mean District 300 will end up without $1.5 million, village and district officials say. Neumann, or another developer that takes over the Conservancy, is still obligated to repay the loan.

If the loan is repaid, District 300 will get its money.

"The payment of those impact fees will be delayed," Keller said. "Eventually they will get those funds."

Officials say the future of Neumann's agreement with District 300 and Gilberts depends largely on the homebuilder's bankruptcy papers.

"We're more in a wait and see mode," said Chuck Bumbales, assistant superintendent for operations and planning for District 300. "What does the filing say, and what is their plan for trying to meet their obligations?"

For the time being, District 300 won't just be missing developer fees. The Conservancy was slated to have almost 1,000 homes, translating into at least 500 kids that would attend local schools.

But Neumann obtained only four building permits in the district this year, and Gilberts Elementary School opened in the middle of an empty subdivision.

Despite the slowdown in the Conservancy, the school itself, which serves families throughout Gilberts, is far from empty, with 584 students at the last count.

Because of this, District 300 officials say they won't need to close any schools or revisit elementary school boundaries, which the district revised just last year.

"It will have absolutely no impact on that at all," school board President Joe Stevens said.

Not all of the kids from the Conservancy would go to District 300 schools. Part of the subdivision is in Huntley Unit District 158, district officials say.

But Neumann told District 158 that it planned to build no homes in the district this year.

"I wasn't anticipating any enrollment growth," District 158 Chief Operations Officer Glen Stewart said.

School officials say they have already adjusted their enrollment projections and budgets to reflect the fact that building has stopped in the Conservancy.

"We are not expecting more impact fees or students based upon the fact that they told us that," Bumbales said.

Neumann officials did not return calls seeking comment.