Company Wants to Buy Nearly Empty Subdivision, but Residents Fear Harm

The 100 or so residents of Springbank subdivision purchased their houses expecting the remaining 1,700-plus lots would be filled and a commercial development built at County Line and Walker roads.

Instead, MAF Developments Inc. lost the 950-acre development through foreclosure and now PNC Bank has a deal to sell the property to developer Ocean Atlantic Management Group. The company will buy the property contingent on village approval of rezoning to allow 300 or more apartments/townhomes to be built on the 20-acre commercial site and annexation agreement changes.

The requests will be reviewed by the Plainfield Plan Commission Tuesday.

Among provisos could be a request to increase the density of townhomes beyond the initial 300 proposed, said Josh Feagans, a spokesmen for the subdivision residents.

“There are concerns that if this is passed, the flood gates on apartments in our subdivision and in other single-family home areas of Plainfield will be opened, property values will decrease and our community will be altered,” Feagans wrote in an e-mail explaining the group’s position.

Construction on the Springbank development began in 2004, after MAF won village board approval for their site plan and to annex the property into the village.

However, the company’s long-term plans never came to fruition as the economy soured. The 100 homes that do exist are scattered in clusters in the three or four unfinished subdivision phases, surrounded by huge swaths of undeveloped land covered with weeds, dead-end roads, and abandoned sewer pipes and other building materials.

Four residents who attended Monday’s village board meeting to launch their first opposition volley said that while they want the property developed, they fear Ocean Atlantic’s questionable track record and that its desire for higher density growth could hurt property values rather than enhance them.

“We’re concerned they’re going to do great damage to the value of Springbank and our homes, which have already experienced great loss,” resident Robert Adrian said.

David McCleave echoed that opinion, saying they’ve suffered enough thanks to one developer who failed to follow through on promises.

“It’s not that we are against apartments or diversity,” he said. “We just question if this is the right place at the right time.”

Not to mention there are only a handful of commercial developments in that part of the village, a situation that will become exacerbated when Springbank house construction resumes, they said.

At this point, the village doesn’t support Ocean Atlantic’s plans either, Planner Michael Garrigan said.

The company has not provided enough information about their long-term thinking to allow the plan commission to make an informed decision, he wrote in a summary on the proposal. Among other things, they’ve not explained how the rest of the property will be developed or why the rezoning is needed, Garrigan wrote.

There may be more details forthcoming at the Aug. 1 meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. in the village board room.