Go back 15 years, and Mundelein was a different place. Take Archer Avenue, which was once a small, worn road bordered by a wall of shrubs, half-grown trees and mid-sized apartments. Today, drivers can see the Village Hall and a growing collection of multi-story, large-scale apartments. Those changes , and many other developments around the area, are the results of decades of planning, local leaders past and present say, as Mundelein takes advantage of its unique position to expand. But as major projects take shape to the west, Mundelein is facing some growing pains, and not necessarily from the expected sources. While many recent Village Board meetings have run long with numerous residents attending to speak, many are there on behalf of Mundelein’s school districts, which have openly feuded with the village over impact fees for future developments. The conflict has grown out of a surge of residential developments in the last decade, and big plans on the drawing board for even more future growth. Water and land Steve Lentz is a former mayor of Mundelein, holding office from 2013 until he chose not to run for reelection in April. He pointed to the village’s water reclamation facility, which Mundelein owns, as a critical resource for the community’s development over the years. While other communities have to go through various approvals for new developments to get water and sewer, he said the plant’s excess capacity makes Mundelein “very well positioned to just say ‘yes.’” “It’s the village’s largest asset,” Lentz said. Going back 20 to 25 years ago, he said the “main complaint” in Mundelein was the lack of a coherent downtown. It was still an industrial area. Starting in the early to mid-2000s, village leadership at the time commissioned a transit-oriented development plan, based around the existing train station, to revitalize the area. It’s a model that’s been used across the country over the years, from San Francisco to Chicago. “You increase density in your downtown area, you have more people and they’re able to walk around,” Lentz said. “Then businesses will be attracted to that greater population, and spring up to serve their needs.” During the 2008 financial crisis, Lentz said Mundelein “took the bull by the horns,” acquiring various industrial properties on the cheap with plans to redevelop. Box factories, lumber yards and recycling centers were transformed into what the area is today. Amanda Orenchuk, the village’s community development director, said Mundelein is historically a more affordable community in Lake County, with about 30% of housing falling into the “attainable” designation by the state. Post-2008, Mundelein updated its zoning ordinances, Orenchuk said, moving to encourage more development. Village officials also implemented the use of Tax Increment Financing districts, a financing tool that funds current improvements with future property tax increases. Driving around downtown, the push for development is still visible. It’s easy to spot the rising concrete stairwells and elevator shafts of under-construction apartment buildings near the Metra station, bringing many hundreds of housing units. And with housing comes improved retail development, according to Bill Shiner, CEO of the Shiner Group. Formed in 1982, the group was the developer of what is today the Long Meadow Commons shopping center, situated northwest of the Route 176 and North Midlothian Road intersection. When the group first broke ground in Mundelein, Shiner said he never would have envisioned the changes downtown has seen. “What they’ve done there, I thought was an extraordinary master plan,” he said. Housing, schools and business are all intertwined in the community, Shiner said. More housing and robust schools attract people, and retail follows. Retail sales mean revenue for the community, including the schools. When looking at a community’s health, those different factors can’t be examined in isolation, he said. Residential growth is critical, Shiner argued. Without it, retail and business — whether national chains or local shops — stagnate, and that means less money for the schools and dropping property values. Developments stoke controversy But some newer projects have led to long and angry Village Board meetings. To the west is the future location of Ivanhoe Village, several hundred acres owned by the wealthy Wirtz family — which also owns the Chicago Blackhawks — planned over several decades to become a community of more than 3,000 housing units and millions of square feet of commercial space. And just to the east of that is the proposed Walnut Ridge housing development, one of the newest proposals from the Pulte Home Company. It’s positioned as a continuation of the nearby Sheldon Woods, and would bring an additional 150-plus housing units. Mundelein annexed land for the development last month. The Wirtz development has been the source of many months of controversy regarding impact fees from the developer, with leaders of Mundelein Consolidated High School District 120 and Fremont School District 79 saying new developments will overwhelm the schools’ capacity and could even require the construction of a new school. The village has argued the numbers are far less dire, and the developer agreed to a 10-year lookback during negotiations, where officials will compare the projections for child populations from today and the reality in the decade, paying for any discrepancy. The developers also agreed to several concessions to aid the schools, including a cap on units built per year, $1.1 million in upfront cash to be split between the districts, and the paying of fees even on senior-targeted and senior-restricted housing. The Walnut Ridge development has only thrown more fuel on the fire. It’s the first time Mundelein is applying a new impact-fee ordinance, village Trustee Kara Lambert said, meant to set a baseline for negotiations with developers. It’s a fairly common ordinance in the region, according to Mundelein staff, with similar ordinances in Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, Grayslake and Vernon Hills, among other municipalities. But the result has upset the districts and Lambert, who say the per-house impact fees have been significantly reduced in the Walnut Ridge project. Lambert was the sole vote against approval last month, emphasizing the need to be responsible with developments. She focused on the lower impact fees per housing unit for the schools in comparison to the similar Sheldon Woods development, also from Pulte. Walnut Ridge was a “test case” for the new ordinance, but as the community already faces division over Ivanhoe Village, this most recent incident was poor timing and “left such a sour taste in my mouth,” she said, calling it “salt on the wound.” Whether this is a development-specific issue, or a broader concern regarding housing developments and the school districts is uncertain in Lambert’s mind, calling it “growing pains.” Explaining the impact fees, Orenchuk said in a statement that the taxing districts have “many years” of voluntary donation agreements with developers. She said developers are sometimes more willing to give donations “above and beyond the amounts” of “typically calculated impact fees” using a standard formula. “Developers and taxing bodies negotiated a mutually acceptable donation agreement using their own methodology,” Orenchuk said in a statement. Those donation agreements were incorporated into development, redevelopment and annexation agreements. The issue prompted a letter signed by six area school districts, including Fremont and D120, calling for revisions to the impact-fee ordinance, including the districts in annexation and zoning decisions, and creating a joint committee with representatives from various area taxing bodies, including the schools. Fremont’s Superintendent Trisha Kocanda said the districts want to have a greater say in planning, to make sure they “maintain education standards” and ensure “growth pays for growth.” With the controversy over Ivanhoe Village and now Walnut Ridge, Kocanda argues they have broader concerns with Mundelein. “We’ve been moving backwards as far as being able to be productive,” she said. In previous public statements, Mundelein leaders have emphasized moving past the impact-fee controversy, which has continued despite the election of a new mayor and board members. Mundelein’s future Ivanhoe Village will take more than two decades to be fully completed, and its unprecedented scale for Mundelein will leave the village transformed. But beyond that sizable project, Lentz said there’s otherwise limited vacant land out west in the village, meaning other developments will likely continue to be focused around the downtown. Mundelein Mayor Robin Meier, for her part, said her focus looking ahead will be “business retention and growth.” That includes the use of events, arts and entertainment to draw in people. Mundelein is also pushing for better public transit, and seeking partners for downtown opportunity sites, she said ...read more read less