Bloomingdale delays stormwater project near Indian Lakes

Lingering questions about Indian Lakes Resort have forced Bloomingdale officials to delay a planned stormwater project for the area.

The village purchased the southernmost part of Indian Lakes in 2007 to preserve that 34.4 acres as open space. Officials have since envisioned using the land between Meadowlark Road and Cardinal Drive for an additional benefit: flood control.

The plan is to transform the site into a passive park with a trail, landscaping, parking lot and several ponds to alleviate flooding.

Mayor Franco Coladipietro said the village was going to look for ways to pay for the estimated $4.5 million project.

But now the work is on hold because a developer wants to build hundreds of houses for empty nesters on roughly 190 acres that used to be Indian Lakes' golf course.

"We didn't start the next step of how to fund it because this all happened," Coladipietro said Monday.

Village Administrator Pietro Scalera said it would be unwise for Bloomingdale to proceed.

"The hope is we'll be able to move forward with the process to determine what will happen on the golf course," Scalera said. "Then that will allow us to move forward with our project."

So far, it's unclear when the village will review developer K. Hovnanian T & C Homes' proposal to rezone the course and build 535 ranch-style houses for residents 55 and older.

Frustrated by the delay, First ILR LLC, which owns the 223-acre Indian Lakes property along Schick Road, recently joined with K. Hovnanian to sue the village. They are asking a DuPage County judge to order Bloomingdale to review the project's preliminary plan.

Village officials insist a review can't be done because of K. Hovnanian's rezoning request. They say final engineering is needed for a rezoning.

K. Hovnanian, however, doesn't believe it should be required to do final engineering at this point.

Meanwhile, officials say having a golf course didn't stop yards and streets from flooding around Indian Lakes. Bloomingdale prevented the problems from getting worse by spending $4.9 million to buy the 34.4 acres and protect it from development.

"You've got all that open space right now," Coladipietro said "We still need this project in order to alleviate some stormwater issues."