Published July 12, 2007
Foxford removes trees, prepares for
project
By Polly
Rix
prix@thehinsdalean.com
Developers Foxford LLC moved forward on The Hinsdale
Club plan, removing several trees in anticipation of
redeveloping a 20-acre site north of Ogden Avenue.
“We had always planned on cutting them down,” Foxford President
Peter Brennan said Wednesday. “We worked with the
village and the village forester. We cut down
approximately 19 trees and nine are going to be
relocated to a park site in the village.”
The lot where the trees were cut down is a “developable” piece of
property, he said. Located in the center of the current
Hinsdale Office Park, the site is where one of the
proposed condo buildings will be built.
“There’s a building that’s going to be there whether it’s The
Hinsdale Club or the previously approved plan,” Brennan
said. “A building is going to go there one way or
another.”
Village manager Dave Cook said Foxford followed the terms of the
development agreement. Section 7B states the developer
will preserve as many trees as possible and relocate
those trees deemed moveable to a village park.
“Under normal circumstances the village doesn’t regulate trees on
private property,” Cook said. “But in this case, the
development agreement was approved.”
He said he advised Foxford’s attorney that his client might want to
wait to cut down the trees, given the pending lawsuit
and the outstanding appeal to the zoning board, Cook
said.
“In light of the litigation I told their attorney I didn’t believe
this was a prudent time to do this,” Cook said.
The village will not issue building permits until the case is
settled, Cook added.
On May 30, the village filed a lawsuit asking the DuPage County
18th Judicial Circuit Court to intervene after 60
residents filed an application May 23 to appeal the
village board’s approval of The Hinsdale Club. The
village is asking the court to declare the zoning board
cannot hear the appeal.
A status hearing for the village’s suit will be held July 25. After
a series of hearings in July and August, Cook said he
expects a court ruling Sept. 17.
