5 Taxpayers Petition To Keep Calumet Country Club In Homewood

HOMEWOOD, IL — Five Homewood residents have filed a motion to intervene as defendants with the Village of Homewood in Arizona-based W&E Ventures' lawsuit seeking to disconnect the former Calumet Country Club from the municipality. The developers are looking to build an industrial park on the space.

The developers filed the lawsuit in fall of 2020, to disconnect the property from village’s zoning codes, and they looked to annexation from the Village of Hazel Crest in an effort to complete the project. Homewood's Board of Trustees voted to approve the settlement in January. It would require the village to rezone and grant a 23-year TIF tax break to the developers.

On March 9, the village board unanimously voted against the rezoning.

According to a news release from the South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete, Homewood taxpayers Liz Varmecky, Casey Kueltzo, Danielle Nolen-Ragland, Kathy Jakubowksi, and Car Nortorangelo are intervening as taxpayers, a right they have based on the disconnection statue that states “the municipality from which disconnection is sought shall be made a defendant, and it, or any taxpayer residing in that municipality, may appear and defend against the petition.”

The five filed an application for prevention to the Circuit Court of Cook County and are being represented by Patrick Keating, an attorney who specializes in complex litigation, according to the release.

Keating said, “I am proud to represent these five individuals who are not fighting Village Hall, but are actually taking on the fight that Village Hall won't."

“We are confident we will succeed," he added.

On Friday afternoon, the group held a press conference at Izaak Walton Preserve’s eastern pavilion, located at 1100 Ridge Road, to address the add-on, and what it means.

"We're joining as defendants because Homewood needs help," Varmecky said. "[Joining] is going to give us the opportunity to defend Homewood ourselves ... we are prepared to be that assistance. Residents in Homewood don't think the settlement that the Board of Trustees agreed to in January was in the best interest of residents. And now we have the opportunity to present the residents interest before a judge."

Keating said he believes the litigation will prevail.

"Contrary to the village attorney's belief, we've reviewed the law, and the facts very carefully. We believe that the litigation will have a good chance of prevailing at the trial court level, and we are hopeful that the trial court will give us the chance to do so," Keating said.

The attorney added, "The citizens filing suit this week is one of two events that in my view makes the settlement void ... We think that rescission is what the village should be pursuing, not those of us who are paying out of pocket for this. But if they won't do it, we will."

Related:

Homewood Village Board Votes No To Rezoning Calumet Country Club | Homewood, IL Patch

Suburban Group Organizes Demonstration To Stop Industrial Park | Homewood, IL Patch

Homewood Group To Stop Calumet Country Club Redevelopment | Homewood, IL Patch

Homewood Votes Against Recommending Rezoning Former Country Club | Homewood, IL Patch