Hinsdale’s Village Board meeting was filled with emotion Tuesday night as a developer’s plan to withdraw from a project resulted in a trustee storming out.

President Michael Woerner read a letter from the Hinsdale Club developer stating the firm would halt the redevelopment of the property and move forward with the original plan to sell each parcel individually.

“It has become blatantly obvious that we would have to battle for every single approval, permit or other effort that requires the involvement of the Village Board and/or a minority group of residents that has this community in gridlock,” Foxford President Peter Brennan wrote in his letter dated Oct. 6. “The village simply seems to lack the resolve to follow through with a project that has been given all the necessary approvals.”

Brennan said Foxford was never interested in creating controversy and made it clear from the beginning that it would withdraw from the process if the company was going to be treated like the “myriad of developers” before it.

“All we have been forced to do is fight, litigate and fight some more,” the letter said.

Foxford indicated the last straw was at a recent zoning and public safety committee meeting, where Brennan said Trustee Mike Smith, who chairs the committee, would not listen to the developer’s position for proposed changes to the development. Brennan was also insulted that Smith referred to the buildings as a “strip center.”

While Trustee Vic Orler moved to approve the proposed changes at the ZPS meeting, no one would second the motion and a vote never took place.

After Woerner finished reading the letter, Smith responded by saying that was one of the most “disingenuous” things that Woerner has ever done. Smith said he was only one vote, and Foxford could have brought the proposal to the board and received six more votes.

“(Foxford) felt at this point in their life they really didn’t want to come here anymore and submit themselves to your verbal abuse,” Woerner responded.

He added that Foxford was not driven by money and profit like some developers are and the company wanted to build a first-class development but the project was not worth it financially if it didn’t have full support from the village.

“The problem is that when we look at the scope of what was proposed, you’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars and there’s no way you can attract a developer to make a commitment of that scale without having the village as a partner,” said Orler. “This is very, very unfortunate for this town, and it’s sad.”

Smith continued that he is only one vote, that he represents the community and there are six other votes at the table.

“What’s sad is the delusion that you people bring to this process; I’m one vote,” Smith said. “The saddest day about this project was when you went and sued the residents over it who raised a reasonable objection and then you dragged a good man through a process to throw him out of office,” Smith said before being cut off.

As Woerner and Orler told him not to spit out lies, Smith got up and left.

Trustee Bob Schultz concluded the discussion saying that he can understand Foxford’s reasons for deciding not to invest in Hinsdale because of Smith’s “unprofessional and disrespectful manner.”

“I think Trustee Smith should be removed as the chairman of the ZPS committee so we can be sure that no one else is treated in this manner going forward,” Schultz said.

Hinsdale Club History
The Hinsdale Club plan was submitted by Foxford LLC for village review back in December 2006, and then underwent four months of revisions before earning the Plan Commission’s recommendation.

The $250 million project — calling for a nine-story, 180-unit hotel and three, eight-story condo buildings along with retail shops — was approved by the village in April 2007.

Sixty residents then filed an appeal a month later May 2007 with the village regarding the development, slated to be built on a 20-acre site north of Ogden Avenue between the Tri-State Tollway and York Road. The residents believed the Village Board lacked the authority to approve certain proposed aspects of the project and contended the plan should not have been approved without being reviewed by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The Village Board responded by naming each of those residents as defendants in a lawsuit.

In mid-November, settlement discussions and communications began between the attorneys for the residents and Foxford, and continued through March. The compromise they reached in April included a reduction in condominium and residential units from 271 to 145 and replacement of the third condominium building with three-story townhomes.

Foxford recently submitted an application for major adjustments to further downsize the project and eliminate the underground parking garage. The Plan Commission voted 5-to-1 to recommend to the board that the amendments be granted. The application then went to the ZPS Sept. 22 and was set to come in front of the Village Board Oct. 21 before Foxford withdrew its proposal.

Trustee Vic Orler said this project would have generated an additional $3.2 million in various taxes annually — $1.1 million of which would have come straight to the village and the other $2.1 million of which would have gone to the school districts.sales, food and beverage, hotel and occupancy taxes from businesses and the developer,

“This is a very significant blow to the village — we continue to drive more and more business out of the village,” Orler said. “We are doing this to ourselves we are driving a stake into the heart of this town and the economic reliability of this town. ... This is a travesty; it’s an absolute travesty for the village of Hinsdale.”

Orler said they had a signed letter of intent from a four-star hotel and CVS/pharmacy, and now they have just “kissed goodbye” millions of dollars in tax revenues. He said they are left in a situation now where they either have lawsuits or projects like Sedgwick that are not moving forward.