Owners seek to disconnect Loeber Farm site from Schaumburg

For the moment, there seems to be little hope of a compromise or settlement that would keep a lawsuit seeking to disconnect the 33-acre Loeber Farm along Meacham Road from the village of Schaumburg from going to trial this year.

The Loebers, which have owned the land since 1948 and also owns Loeber Motors in Lincolnwood, is seeking the disconnection out of what they describe as frustration with their inability to sell the land to a developer for 18 years.

And it is the village of Schaumburg's development standards for the site that Paul Loeber of Barrington Hills says are why no proposal during that time has proved affordable. "Schaumburg has made it so onerous and so difficult that no one can afford to build on it," the 88-year-old CEO of Loeber Motors said.

"Schaumburg has made it so onerous and so difficult that no one can afford to build on it," the 88-year-old CEO of Loeber Motors said.

But village officials, who have a longtime preference for single-family homes there, have a different take on the matter, believing that the Great Recession has had at least as large an impact on keeping the site undeveloped.

The village board did approve Toll Brothers' proposal for a 55-home development there in 2005, and Dartmoor Homes later submitted a somewhat similar proposal in 2007 shortly before the recession's devastating impact on the housing market, Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.

But Loeber said even what the village approved earlier for Toll Brothers wasn't achievable.

"What they approved was something Toll Brothers couldn't afford to do," he said.

Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly said the village is fighting the lawsuit because there is a recognized value in keeping the property in Schaumburg. But his recent offer of compromise was rejected by Loeber.

The property is bordered by the International Village apartment complex to the south, The Treehouse of Schaumburg apartment complex along some of its western edge, and single-family homes in the city of Rolling Meadows on the north.

Because the site is bisected by Salt Creek, Dailly suggested allowing townhouses on the south side that would border the apartment complexes, but only single-family homes on the north side near the existing Rolling Meadows neighborhood.

"I think it would take just a little bit of flexibility on everyone's part," Dailly said.

But while Loeber agreed that only single-family homes on the north side of the creek might be acceptable to the Rolling Meadows neighbors, he insists that only apartments or an assisted living facility would do for the south side.

Dailly insisted equally that assisted living would not be acceptable in that area.

Loeber said that if the land were disconnected from Schaumburg, a future buyer would have the option to develop it in unincorporated Cook County or Rolling Meadows, or to try to return to Schaumburg with greater negotiating leverage. But he added that he won't ask another potential buyer to spend money developing a plan to run past Schaumburg first.

"It comes down to him," Dailly said of Loeber's role in working out a compromise. "He wants out of Schaumburg."