Candidate: Pingree Grove board "gave the town away" to builder

One of three candidates running for a two-year trustee seat on Pingree Grove's village board says developer DR Horton had it too easy when the officials agreed to let it build the Cambridge Lakes subdivision nearly five years ago.

But the two other candidates, who happen to live in Cambridge Lakes, see it another way.

Jon Peschke, a trustee for 25 years before losing his seat two years ago, is challenging Larry Gillie and Charles Jackson for the board's open two-year trustee seat.

Peschke voted against the subdivision measure and now says his fellow trustees "really gave the town away" and should have demanded higher impact fees and building standards.

If developers were unable to meet the village's requests, he said, the board should have told them to build in Elgin.

"We were the only game in town out there at the time; it should have been done right," Peschke said. "Unfortunately, I don't think we did and somewhere along the line, the village and the people in it are going to have to pay the piper and the people in Cambridge."

While Gillie agrees the developer got a good deal, he views the arrangement as a win-win.

"I don't see it as a bad thing for the village at all and obviously, Cambridge must think it's a good thing or else they wouldn't have developed the land in the first place," he said.

Jackson also acknowledges DR Horton got a great deal, but says the previous board shouldn't be condemned for that decision.

"Pingree Grove didn't know whether they were going to be taken over by Elgin or not, so the trustees and (then) President (Verne) Wester did what they had to do," Jackson said. "There are flaws in every plan and every proposal, but I think it was fair and I think Cambridge Lakes has helped the community, more than it has hurt the community."

Current Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey was not on the board when Cambridge Lakes got the green light.

But since he's become president, the village board has passed new impact fee rates and boundary agreements to prevent developers from playing one town off the other.

"Whatever they were before with Cambridge is water under the bridge," Carey said.