New Subdivision Unanimously Approved For Land Owned By Mayor Terry D'Arcy

JOLIET — During the past two nights, Mayor Terry D'Arcy repeatedly stood up from his seat at the Joliet City Council Chambers dais to walk out of the room for several minutes at a time. The mayor went into another room and closed the door behind him as the Council continued discussion. D'Arcy chose not to make any public statements regarding his behavior. Instead, he left it up to other Joliet city officials to explain that D'Arcy had a financial interest in the Prairie Landing subdivision project along Essington Road that was on this week's agenda.

When it came time for Tuesday night's vote, the Council approved the planned unit development proposal unanimously while D'Arcy abstained from the vote and remained in a different room of the Council Chambers.

At the time of the vote, Joliet City Clerk Lauren O'Hara called for the reclassification of 17.9 acres located at 2200 Essington Road from R-4, multi-family residential and B-3 general business, to R-2 single family residential zoning.

The Council was notified that the home building company, D.R. Horton, would construct the future Joliet subdivision. The D.R. Horton website proclaims the company is "America's largest home builder."

Larry Hug Asks Questions About D'Arcy's Stake In Subdivision

Minutes before Tuesday night's vote, Councilman Larry Hug spoke up and directed his comments to city manager Beth Beatty, since D'Arcy was already gone from the room.

"Beth, this land is being purchased from Westside Joliet Real Estate LLC?"

"Mmhhhmm," Beatty answered.

"Now, I think it's apparent to everybody, and if it's not, then I'm going to explain that Mayor D'Arcy has an interest in that. That's why he's leaving the dais the last two days," Hug remarked.

"He does," Beatty agreed.

"Who are the other people with interests in the Westside Joliet Real Estate LLC?" Hug inquired.

"There's one managing partner other than the Mayor and his name is escaping me right now, it starts with a 'C.' Dustin, what's his last name?" Beatty inquired, turning to Joliet Community Development Director Dustin Anderson for guidance.

Anderson, seated at the city department head table, then provided the following answers to Hug's question.

"I prefer not to mispronounce it," Anderson responded at first. "If you let me look it up, I'll be happy to tell you. It's Bob Calzaretta."

"Bob Calzaretta," Beatty repeated.

"OK," Hug responded. "And that's it? The mayor and Bob Calzaretta?"

"Yeah, he's the managing partner, and the mayor owns a less amount," Beatty informed Hug.

"OK. No other people are involved?" Hug followed up.

"No other people, " Beatty answered.

"With that, I make a motion to approve," Hug declared.

The vote passed 7-0, with Councilman Cedar Cardenas missing the meeting. D'Arcy remained in another room as the vote took place.

Recently promoted Joliet Police Sgt. Patrick Schumacher, who provides security during the Council meetings, then went into the other room to bring D'Arcy back to the dais.

According to the City Council packets, the following is key information pertaining to D'Arcy and Bob Calzaretta's upcoming Essington Road subdivision project:

• Landowner Westside Joliet Real Estate LLC is in Palatine.
• D.R. Horton is the developer.
• The preliminary Planned Unit Development of Prairie Landing Subdivision consists of 120 single-family lots on approximately 44 acres.
• Lots are organized around a main road which is accessed from Essington Road. The subdivision includes a small park lot and multiple storm detention areas.
• Proposed lots will be built to R-2 zoning requirements, which include a minimum lot area of 7,500 square feet.
• Proposed house plans include three models with around ten total elevations.
• Homes will be two-stories and approximately 2,000 to 2,600 square feet with four to five bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and two-car attached garages.
• Front elevations include between 25 percent and 41 percent brick or stone, with an average of 34 percent.
• Prairie Landing subdivision will have a main access road off Essington Road along with interior streets that feed back into the main street. Road A is designed to connect to the undeveloped site to the east if that were ever developed.
• D.R. Horton intends to begin new home construction along Essington Road starting in May. The entire construction for Prairie Landing could take around three years, documents show.

On Tuesday morning, Joliet Patch reached out to Mayor D'Arcy's campaign manager Rosemaria DiBenedetto, who was later hired as Joliet's director of communications and media engagement.

Patch asked for clarification about D'Arcy's role in the Essington Road subdivision development.

However, DiBenedetto did not respond to Patch's request with any of the information being sought.

"I’m waiting to speak with the mayor. I will get back to you as soon as possible," DiBenedetto responded to Joliet Patch at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday.