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Bloomingdale residents will share views on Indian Lakes proposal

Bloomingdale officials have set aside four hours Tuesday night to hear from consultants and residents about a controversial proposal to build houses on a shuttered golf course.

They admit it probably won't be enough time.

More than 700 people crowded into a high school auditorium last month to learn about K. Hovnanian Homes' plan to transform roughly 191 acres at Indian Lakes Resort into a neighborhood for empty nesters.

Just as many, if not more, are expected to show up when the public hearing resumes at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium at Lake Park High School's East Campus, 600 S. Medinah Road, Roselle.

"The goal is for the village's consultants to finish their presentation and to begin letting residents share their thoughts about the project," Village Administrator Pietro Scalera said.

First ILR LLC, which owns the 223-acre Indian Lakes property along Schick Road, permanently closed the 27-hole golf course and a conference center in late 2016 as part of an effort to preserve the hotel.

Now K. Hovnanian Homes is seeking village permission to redevelop the former golf course land into an "active lifestyle" community for residents 55 and older that would be called Four Seasons at Indian Lakes.

Ultimately, it will be up to the village board to decide whether to approve the plan, which calls for the construction of 535 ranch-style houses and a 14,000-square-foot clubhouse.

K. Hovnanian's application for a planned unit development was received by the village in November.

Bloomingdale's planning and zoning commission held its first public hearing on the proposal on April 16. However, no residents were able to address the commission on that night because K. Hovnanian officials spent most of the four-hour meeting presenting their plan.

Consultants hired by the village will finish their presentation when the hearing reconvenes. Public comment will follow.

Village President Franco Coladipietro said anyone who wants to speak will be given the opportunity. If necessary, the hearing will be continued to May 14.

"We will have as many meetings as it takes to get through this," he said.

Coladipietro said village officials want public feedback before making a decision about the property.

"When you have a project of this magnitude on a parcel that is so important to the community, the residents have to be heard," he said.

K. Hovnanian, meanwhile, won't ask the planning and zoning commission to make its recommendation on the project right away.

Instead, the developers want to revise the proposal based on feedback from the public hearing.

"We've started this process so we can get feedback and input from the community, potential buyers and village officials," said Patrick Skarr, a spokesman for First ILR and K. Hovnanian. "As we work with the community, it will certainly require some refinements to the plan before we seek a recommendation or vote."

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