Judge says Villa Olivia can leave Bartlett

The Villa Olivia Country Club will scrap its Bartlett address unless a court tells the owners otherwise.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Anne Mason has ruled that the 128-acre property can disconnect from the village of Bartlett. But her order has been stayed pending appeals.

Villa Olivia and Bartlett are both claiming victory in the judge's ruling.

Disconnection -- meaning the club and golf course would no longer legally be part of Bartlett but would become unincorporated -- is key for Villa Olivia owners, who've wanted for years to sell to Ryland Homes to make way for a 350-unit residential and commercial development.

But Bartlett officials -- as well as golf course residents hoping to keep their backyard vistas open -- have been steadfast in their opposition. That has left the would-be developers focused on leaving Bartlett and annexing into Elgin.

Bartlett won a victory in the ruling emphasizing that a covenant preventing the golf course to be redeveloped until 2022 must stand.

Both sides say they'll appeal -- Villa Olivia the covenant, Bartlett the disconnection -- within 30 days.

Villa Olivia attorneys said the property will likely operate as a golf course through the appeal process, and possibly afterward. The clubhouse banquet facility will stay open regardless of the outcome, they said.

In order for Bartlett to hold onto the Villa Olivia property, it has to convince an appellate judge that disconnection would isolate an adjacent water pumping station from the rest of the village.

"Village boundaries have to all be connected," Bartlett Village Attorney Bryan Mraz said. "There can't be islands or boundaries connected in fingers or strips. This would be in the shape of a snake."

Mason ruled that the half-acre in question wouldn't be isolated. Attorney Stewart Diamond, who represents Villa Olivia's owners, the Corrado family, believes the next judge will find the same.

"It's not isolating some poor citizen," Diamond says. "It's a pumping station, and you can still get to it."

Villa Olivia has satisfied other criteria for the land to be disconnected, among them that Bartlett wouldn't be "unduly harmed through the loss of tax revenue."

According to 2003 figures, Villa Olivia comprises less than a half a percent of the village's total equalized assessed property value.

Villa Olivia's appeal will try to nullify the 1987 covenant, which attorneys will argue is really a zoning ordinance.

"Bartlett is trying to have a 35-year contract. No provision in state law would allow a 35-year prohibition on a request for a zoning change," Diamond said.

Discussions between Elgin officials and Villa Olivia about the Ryland Homes development and annexation have been going on for months.

Elgin City Manager Olufemi Folarin expects Villa Olivia and Ryland Homes will go before the city council in the near future with the development proposal, even though the planning and development commission voted it down in October.

The current plan, Diamond said, includes 51 acres of open space and 350 residential units. He added that current zoning would allow for 1,500 units once the covenant expires.

"They should consider it," he said, "because in 2022 there's no telling what someone would build there."