Rental complex on Loeber Farm site rejected by Schaumburg plan commission

To the applause of neighboring residents from Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg plan commissioners Wednesday voted 6-2 against a controversial proposal to build 357 apartment, townhouse and rowhome units on the 33-acre Loeber Farm property.

Nevertheless, Elmhurst-based developer Nitti Group, LLC intends to bring the proposal before the Schaumburg village board for final consideration as scheduled on Aug. 27, partner Nico Nitti said.

Lincolnwood-based Loeber Motors CEO Paul Loeber, whose family has been trying to sell the property to a viable developer for at least the past two decades, attended the meeting and afterward continued to endorse Nitti Group’s plan.

“I think these people can do a fine job of building there,” he said.

Only plan commissioners Jeff Mytych and Chairman David Utley voted in favor of the proposal, while Steve Robles was absent.

The vote followed a report on the number of calls for police service during the past year at the eight multifamily properties near the Loeber Farm property based on a request from Commissioner Dale Litney at the previous meeting in July.

The original request was based on curiosity about the crime rate at the property’s neighboring rental communities. But the more comprehensive report included all nearby multifamily developments and all calls to police from them.

The report listed the number of units in each community and the number of requests for police assistance for any reason, not necessarily to report crimes, from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024.

International Village’s 732 units made 395 calls, Treehouse of Schaumburg’s 752 units made 777 calls, Element at Veridian has 260 units and 64 calls, Hidden Pond Condominiums has 240 units and 162 calls, Lakes of Schaumburg has 428 units and 363 calls, North 680 has 188 units and 42 calls, Northgate at Veridian Townhouses has 260 units and 72 calls, and The Quin had 373 units and 118 calls.

A letter from Palatine Township Elementary District 15 Superintendent Laurie Heinz was also received.

Heinz expressed concern over the density of the proposed development, the number of District 15 students it could generate, and the village’s consideration of requiring only 50% of its newly raised developer impact fees for the project.

Density, environmental impacts and the rental nature of the development were at the top of Rolling Meadows residents and city officials’ criticisms of the proposal for 2014 N. Meacham Road before Wednesday’s meeting.

Among their arguments was that Schaumburg’s own comprehensive land-use plan calls for single-family homes on the site, yet the project received the recommendation of the village’s planning staff.

But Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said the comprehensive plan is a policy document rather than a list of requirements.

Nitti Group is already building 149 single-family homes in the Summit Grove development on 62 acres previously owned by Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 in Schaumburg.

But Nico Nitti characterized the Loeber Farm property as a complicated one for several reasons, and that nearly all obvious sites for single-family homes in the suburbs have already been spoken for.

He said the plan’s philosophy is to be a transitional development from the lower density area to the north to the higher density multifamily communities near the southern end.

The phase south of Salt Creek would consist of six, four-story apartment buildings totaling 270 units, with a clubhouse.

The 45-unit buildings would include both one- and two-bedroom units with 18 single-car garages each.

The 13 townhouse and 12 rowhome buildings would sit north of the creek.

The two-story townhouses would be available with either three bedrooms and two-car garages or two bedrooms and one-car garages.

The rowhomes would be three stories with rear-entry two-car garages, and either two or three bedrooms.