Mundelein Walmart stalled again with new legal appeal

Mundelein-area residents fighting a proposed Walmart near their homes have appealed a judge's ruling that could've ended the three-year legal battle.

The case now moves from Lake County circuit court to the appellate court for Illinois' second district, which is based in Elgin.

Mundelein Village Administrator John Lobaito criticized the legal maneuver but said he wasn't surprised by it.

"It's just one more way to delay the project," Lobaito said Thursday. "We continue to be amazed by their actions."

Richard Kessler, a Chicago attorney representing the plaintiffs in the appeal, declined to comment. He is not related to Mundelein Mayor Kenneth H. Kessler.

The controversy concerns plans for a shopping center on Route 60 north of Route 176, the centerpiece of which would have been a Walmart. This site is within the village limits and isn't far from the upscale Ivanhoe neighborhood, which is just outside Mundelein in unincorporated Lake County.

The plaintiffs in the case include the Ivanhoe Club property owners association, the Ivanhoe Club and a few individual residents in the Ivanhoe area.

They sued the village and developers in 2007 to stop the project, dubbed Town Center, saying they were not able to properly make their case against the proposed center during the planning process.

They also said the development would infringe on their property rights and hurt home values.

The village board approved the plan in 2008 despite those objections.

This past March, Lake County Associate Judge Mitchell Hoffman ruled in the village's favor, saying officials acted reasonably and did not violate their planning rules.

That would have allowed the Rubloff Development Group to proceed with plans for the shopping center, but the appeal, which was filed last week, halts the project once again.

The appeal isn't the only legal wrangling over the proposed development. Last month, Rubloff sued Supervalu, the parent company of the Jewel-Osco chain, for hiring a second firm to "harass and interfere with" the Mundelein development and a similar proposal in suburban New Lenox.

The federal lawsuit alleges Supervalu and a firm called Saint Consulting "orchestrated dirty tricks campaigns to defeat or otherwise delay the establishment of new Walmart stores," including arranging legal representation for the Ivanhoe residents.

Saint Consulting also is named as a defendant in the suit.