By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Developers of the Ellis Farms subdivision a long Creek Road are at least $27,000 short on a line of credit to pay for improvements in the development.
The Delavan Common Council voted 5-1 on June 11 to issue a formal notice to the Executive Management Inc. that it is deficient in the amount of money set aside to cover public improvements the company agreed to make within the development.
The developers have 30 days to cover the deficiency or the council can pull the line of credit.
Executive Management has $246,000 set aside in the letter of credit. Cost estimates for remaining improvements like curb and gutter or terrace trees are $272,300 to more than $300,000. Alderman Bruce DeWitt said the council has been trying to work with the developer for months without success. Representatives of Executive Management or JJB Commercial Real Estate could not be reached for comment.
Alderman Gary Stebnitz was the lone vote of opposition because he said the developers are willing to work with the city, and a deal was close to being agreed to but was nixed by City Attorney Steve Koch. Stebnitz said the developers were willing as recently as May 31 to pay the city $500 a month and half of any lot sales until the deficiency is made up. He said the developers are current on their loan for the development but if they are forced to borrow more money, they may have to declare bankruptcy and that would not be good for anyone.
“We have two hard working people who are willing to work with us,” Stebnitz said. “I don’t want to be part of a council that comes that close to a deal and then changes things.”
Alderman Chris Phillips, who works in real estate, said it was hard for him to agree the developers were willing to do what was necessary when he knew of at least one client who was interested in buying a lot in Ellis Farms at a price lower than the asking price but still reasonable and the developers turned the offer down.
Alderman Mary O’Connor cited previous council precedence in pulling lines of credit for other developments and said these developers have been difficult to talk to. She also said that the longer the city waits for the improvements to get made, the more they will cost.
Administrator Denise Pieroni said the improvements should have been made in 2006, so the city has been working with the developer for seven years.
Alderman Ryan Schroeder said the aldermen were elected by the taxpayers, not the developers. He said the council can try to work with developers but they, in the end, are accountable to the people. He said the economy is tough on everyone and he did not want to set a precedent for future developers to ask the city to not collect what it was owed.
Attorney Brad Lochowicz, sitting in for Koch, said nothing prevents the city from working out an agreement with the developers in the next 30 days.
Updates
The council received an update from Ken Wargo, cxhairman of the Civil War Monument Restoration Committee. Wargo said a fundraiser at Bradley’s last month netted $600 and got the total raised to restore the monument up to $12,000. The committee has a goal of raising $20,000 for the project.
Wargo said the committee hopes to have the work done by July 4 since this year is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, but he is not sure that goal can be reached. The committee is still accepting donations.
“This must be completed,” Wargo said. “Not for us, but for them (Delavan residents who died in the war) and our children.”
John Finley, chairman of the effort to save the Israel Stowell Temperance House, reaffirmed the committee has no intention of using tax money to restore the building and said the committee is close to proving the Temperance House was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.
