Homer Township Proposed Senior Living Community Paused By Supervisor

HOMER TOWNSHIP, IL — A proposed housing development for local residents ages 55 and up that drew plenty of opposition earlier this week has been paused by the Homer Township Supervisors until local voters can have a say on the project.

Supervisor Steve Balich told the township board Wednesday night that the proposal for Autumn Ridge, a community that would include 93 single-family homes and 20 duplexes needs to go to a referendum rather than allowing township board members to have the final say, the Daily Southtown reported.

Balich did not immediately return an email to Patch on Thursday seeking comment on when the next steps toward a possible referendum would take place.

Township officials had planned to allow a developer to build the community on 40 acres of property that was formerly the Welter family farm. The township purchased the property in 2001 for $2 million as part of a preservation project for open spaces.

The proposal for the new 55 and over living community drew a full house of opposition earlier this week when local residents overwhelmed the township hall meeting space. The project was to have been the subject of a Homer Glen Village workshop on May 25 before Balich told board members at a meeting Wednesday night that local voters needed to determine the fate of the project, the Daily Southtown reported.

Balich told the board Wednesday night that he still believes the project has plenty of value for the township despite the opposition. He said the community would provide affordable living options to local senior citizens who were looking to remain in the area.

‘When all of the dust is settled, you have to look at (whether) this is a good project or a bad project,” he said, according to the report. “This is a good project.”

But Balich told board members on Wednesday night that if there are two opposing sides and "there is no good answer", a referendum is the only reasonable way to determine where the proposed senior community goes from here.

Ultimately, the Village of Homer Glen will have to approve the development since the property is part of the village.

Opponents of the proposition are against developing the property saying that the open spaces were meant to be left that way and that building on the property would take away from the natural beauty of the land.