Successful Fundraiser Arms SSGOC for New Fronts in Fight to Save Greenspace at Calumet Country Club
HOMEWOOD, Ill.– April 28, 2021 — South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete (SSGOC) raised 200% of its fundraising goal to preserve the greenspace at Calumet Country Club at its April 10, 2021, virtual auction. The silent auction event raised more than $8,000 bringing the grand fundraising total to $29,000, from more than 350 residents and donors.
After the Homewood Five’s legal battle ended before a trial, Illinois Southland Against Fossil Energy (IL SAFE), on behalf of the SSGOC campaign, settled the reasonable legal bill from the group’s intervention filings. The campaign now has sufficient cash on hand to continue to fight Diversified Partner, LLC’s trucking-hub development proposal in whichever municipality the LLC intends to proceed. This funding will be available to use for future land use litigation in Cook County, Hazel Crest, or Homewood.
Patrick Keating, who was legal counsel for the Homewood Five, said that Illinois is unlikely to allow this greenspace, which borders two residential subdivisions, Governors Park in Homewood and Bremerton Woods in East Hazel Crest, to be developed into a trucking distribution center. Keating said, “but as long as the developer’s (Walt Brown, Jr., CEO of Diversified Partners) checks keep clearing, his attorneys and engineers will keep charging him to attempt it.”
On April 13, 2021, the Village of Homewood Board of Trustees voted to approve an ordinance that allowed the voluntary disconnection of the property based on the terms of the January 26, 2021, settlement. On April 23, 2021, Judge Maureen Ward Kirby granted W&E Ventures, LLC’s (Diversified Partners) Motion to Dismiss its disconnection lawsuit against the Village of Homewood. The Homewood Five, resident taxpayers, intervened in the suit to defend the village against the disconnection, which would necessarily require voiding or nullifying the January 26, 2021 settlement. This one-sided settlement is precisely what sparked the community’s renewed opposition to this development after it was approved by the village board in late January 2021.
SSGOC’s work in Homewood began only three months ago, but in that short period of time the Southland community has become aware of, opposed to, and engaged in this issue. With the community’s engagement and encouragement, Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry and the Hazel Crest Board of Trustees issued a statement on February 16, 2021, opposing this developer and their plan for the site, saying “We do not want to do business with this developer.” Subsequently, with the community’s engagement and encouragement, both the Homewood Planning and Zoning Commission and the Homewood Board of Trustees unanimously voted against Diversified Partner’s insufficient rezoning application.
The SSGOC movement will build on these successes and its fruitful fundraiser as the municipal boundaries shift at the behest of the developer. Michelle Yates, board member at IL SAFE said, “This fundraiser shows that the community continues to be against this development. As the SSGOC campaign continues to the next fronts, whatever those may be, we’re ready with people-power and cash.”
About South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete
A multi-racial group of concerned residents of Homewood, Hazel Crest, East Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Chicago Heights, South Holland and Glenwood formed in opposition to Diversified Partner LLC’s planned development of Calumet Country Club (2136 175th St, Homewood, IL 60430) into a fulfillment/trucking hub. The group is a campaign of SAFE.
About Illinois Southland Against Fossil Energy
Illinois Southland Against Fossil Energy was founded in response to the proposed gas-burning power plant in Glenwood. SAFE is building an inclusive, multi-racial coalition that believes the Southland needs and deserves a clean environment, clean government, healthy people, and a healthy economy.