Request for housing on Lombard-area golf course moving to DuPage County
The developer who wants to build apartments and townhouses on what’s now a golf course near Lombard is seeking permission from DuPage County after the village indicated last month it would reject the plans.
But Lombard trustees still are actively opposing residential development at the 31-acre Ken-Loch Golf Links. In a special meeting Friday morning, the village board adopted a resolution objecting to the property owner’s request from the county for a change in zoning that would allow apartments and townhouses instead of single-family homes.
“It definitely showed the entire board is supporting the decision we made about a month ago to keep that open space,” Lombard Village President Keith Giagnorio said about the unanimous approval of the resolution.
Property owners and siblings Rich and Linda Kensinger are requesting the zoning change from DuPage County at a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, in room 3500-B of the Jack T. Knuepfer Administration Building at 421 N. County Farm Road in Wheaton.
Rich Kensinger did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The move comes more than a month after Lombard trustees voted to approve a new land-use designation that calls for the Ken-Loch site to remain primarily open space, with development possible on up to 25 percent of the area off Finley Road north of 22nd Street.
That move effectively ruled out the proposal developer Donven Homes presented more than a year ago, the company’s President Don Stevens said in June, because it signaled Lombard trustees would not annex the land into the village to allow a larger development.
Donven’s preliminary proposal included 256 apartments and 103 townhouses to house an estimated 736 people on the golf course site. But that amount of development would occupy between two-thirds and three-fourths of the site — more than allowed under Lombard’s new land-use designation.
The site remains unincorporated, although it is surrounded by property within Lombard’s corporate limits. Its current DuPage County zoning allows for single-family homes on large lots, but the zoning the Kensingers are seeking would allow a higher-density residential development.