Homewood Group To Stop Calumet Country Club Redevelopment

HOMEWOOD, IL — The Homewood Village Board voted 6-0 at its board meeting in January, approving a controversial settlement that will soon bring an industrial park to the Calumet Country Club. The vote settles pending litigation between W & E Ventures, LLC (Diversified Partners) and the Village, to disconnect the country club from Homewood. Now, a group of residents is trying to reverse this decision.

Various ordinances were passed at the Jan. 26 meeting that will now enable new measures. The measures pertaining to the settlement plan include the development of a tax increment financing (TIF) district, a class 8 Cook County classification and a $1 million construction cost advance. The TIF district requires a joint review board and public hearing, provided in the settlement.

Any and all details pertaining to the settlement must be completed by May 12, or the village is subject to pay a $250,000 penalty. Reimbursements for the advance would be paid back to the village through the TIF district.

The former country club parcel is located at the northwest corner of Dixie Highway and 175th Street. About 116 acres sit in Homewood; the rest remain in Hazel Crest.

Now, a multi-racial group of residents from the towns of Homewood, Hazel Crest, East Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Chicago Heights, South Holland and Glenwood have come together in opposition of the deal, demanding the Diversified Partner LLC’s planned development is retracted.

The group, South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete (SSGOC), is a campaign, part of the Illinois Southland Against Fossil Fuel Energy (SAFE). SAFE previously had a successful outcome against the building of a fossil fuel power plant in Glenwood, IL., and now the SSGOC campaign is opposing this development, saying "the site should be used for something that benefits everyone in the community."

SSGOC member Liz Varmecky said this development is a form of "eco-racism."

"The south suburbs bear an undue burden of the e-commerce industry," Varmecky said. "As warehouses, factories and trucking centers go up to support everybody getting one day delivery... It's the south suburbs, that feel that. We feel it in the air quality, we feel that in our lack of green space."

Varmecky said the community has been against the idea of this development since it was first mentioned, years ago.

"We spoke up a few years ago, and the community resoundingly was against this from the beginning. The village told us that they were on our side and also against it. Now they've told us that they failed," Varmecky said. "We thought that the village was representing our interests in handling it. And now we see they didn't."

The member said there are a variety of reasons as to why this development isn't a good idea, and why the campaign is set on stopping it.

"We all live in the area, so we own property here. Taking something that's green, and making it into a pollution factory, essentially, is not going to be good for anybody's property value," Varmecky said. "It's not going to be good for anybody's health, and it's definitely not going to be good for the problems that we already have with flooding.

"As you take away green space, water doesn't absorb into concrete, obviously. When it goes into the storm drains ... and when it floods, it's going to flood bad in all the areas in the village that are attached to those same drains. So, across the board, it's just bad."

This decision was not favorable among the village board. In 2019, Homewood officials vowed to save the Calumet Country Club from being converted into the 1-million-square-foot industrial park, and its land annexed into Hazel Crest.

The facility would be located just less than a mile from Prairie-Hills Junior High School, Nob Hill Elementary School, Highlands Elementary School and Pottawatomie School. It is also less than two miles from Mae Jemison School, Robert Frost Middle School, Chateaux School, Saint Anne School, Jesse White Learning Academy Elementary School, Warren Palm School and a half-dozen day cares, according t0 the campaign.

According to the campaign, Homewood resident Michelle Yates, who is a SAFE board member and SSGOC activist, has a problem with the development based off of her research as an Environmental Media professor.

"This proposal would be considered environmental racism. Even though the effects may be localized, disproportionately black residents will be impacted," Yates said.

The campaign said that Homewood is 44 percent African American/Black, Hazel Crest is 87 percent, East Hazel Crest is 53 percent, Flossmoor is 62 percent, Markham is 79 percent and Country Club Hills is 89 percent.

David Janocha, a homeowner across the street from the site, is just one resident unhappy with the settlement terms.

"I’m quite sure whatever settlement agreement they come to will have/do nothing for the Governors Park residents," Janocha said. He vows to continue the fight along with SSGOC to stop the settlement. "I’m not going to sit back just because the Village is."

Learn more about the group on its Facebook page.