Planned La Grange Townhomes Concern Residents; Project Described As Upscale

LA GRANGE, IL – A developer hopes to break ground on an 84-unit townhome project in La Grange by next spring, saying the project would take about two years.

That is contingent on the project getting the village's approval this fall.

Columbus, Ohio-based M/I Homes held a public meeting Monday night on the proposed Granby Yard complex. A standing-room-only crowd filled the library's basement meeting room.

As with most such developments, residents said they were concerned with density and traffic, among other things.

Described as upscale, the townhomes, plus one single-family house, would be southeast of Bluff and Cossitt avenues, along the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad.

Representatives of the developer said the project would be in the high $600,000 range. That compares with the average townhome resale price of $623,000 over the last year in La Grange, they said.

They said they were aiming for architecturally pleasing buildings. For instance, they said all four sides would have windows.

The townhomes would have a homeowners association that would take care of tasks such as snow removal, lawn mowing and exterior maintenance.

The buildings would be night gray and pearl gray. Zachary Kenitzer, an M/I Homes executive, said he spent hours trying to figure out which colors would blend in.

"We're using colors of the neighborhoods around the project to inform what we're doing," he said.

Zachary Kenitzer (left), an M/I Homes executive, describes the plan for an 84-unit townhome development in La Grange. He spoke to a standing-room-only crowd Monday. Next to Kenitzer is attorney Eric Prechtel. (David Giuliani/Patch)

The development is southeast of La Grange's downtown, with residents close enough that they can walk to "all the cultural benefits that La Grange has to offer," Kenitzer said.

He also said the development would have enough parking. When he said he doubted the on-street parking would fill up, several residents laughed mockingly.

At the later Village Board meeting, residents brought up the earlier session with the developer.

Resident Bessie Boyd said the burden should be on the developer to demonstrate that 84 townhomes are appropriate for the site in question. That burden, she said, should not be put on residents to prove after the fact that the development has created problems.

Boyd noted three parcels in the development have been historically industrial, pointing to one of them as having documented contamination issues. She urged a parcel-by-parcel review before decisions are made.

As for the project's density, she asked, "Why 84 units? What alternatives were evaluated?"

Another resident, Regina McClinton, questioned the prices of the proposed townhomes.

"They indicated that the affordable housing would be $600,000-plus for a unit," she said. "I'm not sure whose affordability that is."