Developer making new push for apartments at Ken-Loch
A developer who tried unsuccessfully to convince Lombard officials that a golf course near the village should be transformed into a multifamily residential development now is hoping to sell DuPage County on the idea.
It’s been more than a year since Donven Homes asked Lombard if it would consider annexing the Ken-Loch Golf Links into the village and rezoning the 31-acre site along Finley Road, north of 22nd Street.
If approved, the change would have cleared the way for Donven Homes to buy the land from its current owners and pursue plans to build apartments and townhouses.
But Lombard trustees recently gave the golf course a new land-use designation calling for 75 percent of the land to remain open space.
“They (village trustees) have not agreed to annex it,” said Don Stevens, Donven Homes president. “And they won’t rezone it. Instead, they have revised their comprehensive plan to recommend keeping it as open space. It just seems like they’re not even interested in any kind of development.”
The brother and sister who own the golf links, Rich and Linda Kensinger, now are asking the county to rezone the land to allow apartments and townhouses. The county currently has the site zoned for single-family houses.
DuPage’s zoning board of appeals will conduct a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday in room 3500-B of the county’s administration building, 421 N. County Farm Road in Wheaton.
Paul Hoss, the county’s zoning coordinator, said the hearing will deal strictly with the rezoning request. “They don’t have a site plan,” he said. “They don’t have a proposed density.”
Stevens said the development plans won’t be proposed to the county unless the zoning change is approved.
However, he said, the company’s tentative proposal is to construct four luxury apartment buildings and about 19 upscale townhouses.
“We’ve been told by market analysts that this is the highest and best use of that property,” Stevens said.
If built, the development would increase tax revenue for the county and provide an economic benefit to the area, Stevens said.
“We see that it has a lot of advantages,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re not able to convince Lombard of that.”
Neighbors already have opposed residential development of the site. They’ve claimed it would increase flooding and traffic.
Now that the county is involved, Lombard trustees have adopted a resolution objecting to the rezoning.
“We think it’s unreasonable and unfair,” Stevens said of the resolution.
Scott Stevens, Donven Homes executive vice president, said the proposed development wouldn’t occupy the entire site. “By going multifamily,” he said, “we’re able to leave a lot of green space.”