Final approval nears for housing development on Libertyville Manor extended care site

Pulte Home Company’s plan to replace the aging Libertyville Manor extended care facility at 610 Peterson Road with 64 single-family homes and 70 age-restricted duplexes is heading for final approval.

The Libertyville village board Tuesday will vote on the report of the advisory plan commission, the last step before an ordinance is prepared for official action at the upcoming meeting.

Trustees last August green-lighted the preliminary concept plan for Greenway Chase as well as a special use permit and other elements, acknowledging several deviations from the zoning code including minimum lot sizes and setbacks, as part of the development plan.

Plans have since been refined to include a construction phasing plan, relocating a proposed public park, and additional perimeter fencing.

The final plan will serve “as a complete, thorough, and permanent public record of the planned development and the manner in which it is to be developed,” according to village materials.

Public review of the project Pulte says will address two underserved markets in town began in February 2025.

It has continued through extensive reviews, hours of discussion during eight or more public hearings as well as meetings with neighbors in the established Victoria Park and Forest Park neighborhoods to the west and east respectively.

Mayor Donna Johnson said the process was necessary to help ensure the effects of a new development on those neighborhoods were minimized.

Concerns included how stormwater would be managed on the site and how to address already difficult access onto Peterson Road (Route 137).

Revisions have included adding a 6-foot fence on the west perimeter to buffer Victoria Park and moving a detention basin to preserve additional trees to buffer Forest Creek.

Nearly all the trees on the site are in poor condition or dead, according to Pulte. The company submitted a tree diversity plan to spread new trees evenly and preserve buffers.

Speed monitoring signs will help make the two access drives safer and more approachable but the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction, says neither meets the requirement for a traffic signal.

Stormwater is governed by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission. Measures to be installed during development will improve water detention and flow, Johnson said.

The project is planned for 28 acres within the village and 14 adjoining unincorporated acres on the site on the north side of Peterson Road just east of Butterfield Road.

About 42% of the site including outlots, parks, wetlands and landscape buffers is considered green space.