Developer to install storm sewer to help adjacent Palatine neighborhood
A developer planning new townhouses on Palatine's north end will help the village expedite an effort to improve stormwater drainage for an entire neighborhood.
Village council members have agreed to dip into a fund designated for a special taxing zone to pay a maximum $120,000 to Palatine-based KF Walter Inc. for the storm sewer work near Hicks and Dundee roads.
In September, KF Walter received approval to construct the 12-unit townhouse complex on the 1500 block of North Hicks, just south of Dundee Road. The project will cover about 2 acres and border Garden Avenue, across the street from Northwest Shopping Center.
KF Walter intended to install a new storm sewer to address rainwater runoff concerns at its site. But as part of the project's approval, the company agreed to go beyond its land to place a roughly 600-foot storm sewer from Garden south down Elm Street in an effort to improve drainage for the entire neighborhood.
Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen said the redevelopment agreement appropriating the $120,000 for KF Walter means the developer will speed up a capital improvement project that already was on the drawing board.
"It's a cost that we would have done roughly five years out for improvements to the whole area," Ottesen said.
Under KF Walter's plan, there will be four houses in each of three ranch-style buildings on property where permitted uses would have allowed office or retail development. Each unit will have a two-car garage and two parking spaces on the driveway.
Gregory Rose Jr., owner and president of KF Walter, has said the townhouses will be marketed to residents 55 and older and complement the single-family properties in the area.
Residents in nearby single-family houses spoke against the project before the village council's approval in September. Their concerns included additional traffic, the townhouses not fitting with the neighborhood and potential worsening of stormwater runoff.