Referendum seeks to reverse Sugar Grove approval of controversial 761-acre development
People opposed to the large The Grove development in Sugar Grove are continuing to fight it, months after the village board approved the plan.
On Thursday, resident Patrick Gallagher filed a petition to place a referendum question on the April 1 ballot, asking village officials to reverse their decision.
The question is “Should the Village of Sugar Grove approval of ‘The Grove,’ a development project by Sugar Grove LLC/Crown Community Development, located near Interstate 88 and Illinois Route 47, be immediately reversed using all necessary and lawful measures?”
The referendum would be advisory, meaning the results would not force the village board to do anything at all. But Patrick Gallagher, the main proponent of the referendum, said it will send a message to people running for village elected offices in April.
“Since the April election also includes the village president and three trustee positions, the goal is for the referendum question to serve as a directive (albeit a nonbinding one) for those who are elected. Several of the candidates are strongly opposed to the village’s decision to go forward with the project,” Gallagher said Thursday.
Two of the four trustees who voted for the plan are not seeking reelection. A third is seeking another term, and a plan commissioner who supported the plan also is seeking a trustee seat.
Crown has not broken ground on the 761-acre project, which will straddle I-88, mostly east of Route 47. Village administrator Scott Koeppel said he expects permitting and construction to start in the spring.
More than 500 people signed the petition.
Hundreds of people attended plan commission hearings and a three-night, 30-hour village board meeting about the development over the summer. Almost all the public speakers opposed the plan. Many lived in unincorporated neighborhoods near the site. Only Sugar Grove residents will get to vote in the referendum.
The board voted in September to annex the land and create a planned development district with housing, offices, stores and businesses that could include warehouses and data centers. Two trustees opposed it.
The board also voted to create a tax increment financing, or TIF, district and use funding from it to reimburse developer Crown Community Development up to $109 million in costs.
A TIF district works by freezing property tax payments to local governments at their current levels. Then, for typically 23 years, any increase in property tax receipts caused by rising land values goes to a special village-controlled fund to pay for public and private improvements within the district, including roads and utilities.