Horizon's offer amuses Huntley village attorney

Last week, I wrote a story about the village of Huntley rejecting Horizon Group Properties' offer to pay off $16 million in bonds.

What I didn't mention was Horizon's apparent mail campaign to win the hearts and minds of Huntley residents.

According to the village of Huntley, Horizon sent a postcard to residents with a copy of a $16.4 million check from Horizon to the village of Huntley, implying that the village was turning down $16.4 million.

Of course, that's not exactly how it would work.

Horizon would pay off the bonds, enabling the developer to get paid for the class of bonds Horizon holds. Huntley would get $200,000 from Horizon as part of the deal -- not $16.4 million.

I found Village Attorney Mike Coppedge's response to Horizon's offer amusing.

"The village is delighted to be advised that it will be receiving 16.4 million dollars on refinancing the TIF bonds," Coppedge wrote in an Oct. 24 letter to Horizon.

"If that is verified, I suspect that the village may well be compelled to act more expeditiously in terms of refinancing the TIF obligations of your client."

I'm glad to see that Coppedge and other village officials can still have a sense of humor about Horizon after eight years of litigation.

I'll keep you posted if I hear anything more on the latest dispute between the village and the developer.

Neumann and District 158: I had a confusing series of exchanges with officials in Huntley Unit District 158 this week.

It was about a relatively minor issue -- for District 158 at least -- the impending bankruptcy of Warrenville-based homebuilder Neumann Homes.

At issue was the Conservancy subdivision Neumann planned to build in Gilberts.

Last week, I was working on a story about what impact the bankruptcy would have on Community Unit District 300.

I got a call from District 158's Chief Operations Officer Glen Stewart telling me Neumann Homes didn't owe District 158 any money, and that the district did not expect enrollment growth from the Conservancy.

I didn't think much of it, because I didn't know prior to the conversation that any of the Conservancy was going to be built in District 158. So, I filed away Stewart's comments and used a brief snippet when I finally wrote the District 300-Neumann story.

After the story ran, I took a look at District 158's budget for this year. The district projected $200,000 in impact fee revenue from Gilberts.

Developers pay impact fees to school districts to cover the cost of educating students who live in the homes they built.

I wondered why the district expected to get $200,000 in impact fees if it didn't expect any enrollment growth.

Superintendent John Burkey said if Neumann had built the Conservancy according to plan, there could have been as many as 350 homes built in District 158.

But it's not clear how many homes Neumann told the district it would build this year.

According to Stewart, Neumann told the district it planned to build zero homes in the district for several years.

But then, why did the district budget $200,000 in impact fees from Gilberts if it expected zero homes to be built there this year?

I'm not sure, but maybe the district expected a few more than zero homes.

"We were not expecting much growth out of there at all," Burkey said.

To be fair, $200,000, as Burkey pointed out to me, represents fewer than 50 four-bedroom homes, and just a handful of students.

But a handful is more than zero.

Stewart implied that there had been rumors that Neumann owed the district money, and that the expected bankruptcy would depress the district's enrollment. I can guess the source of some of that talk.

But if you're going to pre-empt district critics by calling the newspapers first, at least get your facts straight.