This is a countdown of the top 10 stories of 2022 written by Cat Petersen and/or Kevin Woodard. These are stories in the sense of “stories we followed.” Each of these “stories” had multiple stories written about them and published on our web site.
Number 7. Wintergreen III / Weldon Reserve
We first wrote about Wintergreen after the August Normal Planning Commission meeting where a number of Wintergreen Phase II residents were concerned about how Phase III of the subdivision was going to be built out.
Phase II is being built out with $500,000 and $800,000 homes. The current developer is planning to build phase III out with a mixture of $300,000 duplexes and single family homes.
The problem concerned the previous developer who had planned to build phase III out more like phase II. Those who invested in Phase II felt they had been promised this would be the case. Phase II residents were concerned about their property value depreciating as a result of the construction of phase III as currently planned.
Fairlawn Capital is the current developer. Jason Barickman, a state senator, is a partner in Fairlawn Capital. The planning commission approved Fairlawn’s proposal.
Barickman met with residents in September with a revised plan in an attempt to work out differences between his company’s plans and what Wintergreen II residents wanted. At that meeting he announced that his development would now be marketed as Weldon Reserve.
By this time the problem was couched as being mostly about traffic and the fact that an internal street in Weldon would connect to an internal street in Wintergreen. Wintergreen residents were concerned about “cut through” traffic.
But the connection is required by the town of Normal, Weldon is designed to have only one point of ingress and egress off of Beech St. And Wintergreen II only has one. The connection is necessary because for safety purposes a second entrance to each subdivision is needed for access by emergency vehicles should the main entrance to either subdivision be blocked.
Wintergreen Phase III (Weldon Reserve) on Normal Council Agenda
Barickman offered a number of other compromises to the Wintergreen residents including restrictions in any leases for rental property that prohibit things such as basketball hoops in front driveways, secondary structures in yards, and above-ground pools. The idea of the restrictions is to match the covenants of Wintergreen Phase II as closely as possible.
The concession regarding leases is in regard to the fact that Fairlawn may rent or sell homes in Weldon reserve. Much of the concern of Wintergreen residents is the fact that much or all of Weldon may be rental properties.
Barickman addressed those concerns regarding property values and and rental properties encouraging Wintergreen residents to put the renter stereotype aside. He pointed out that renters are Rivian employees, university scholars, young professionals and empty nesters. “I push back on the characterization that just because people rent they are problems,” he said.
After the meeting and before the Normal Council meeting on which Fairlawn’s plans were to appear on the agenda for approval, Barickman said he had an agreement with Wintergreen Phase II homeowners that they would “mutually speak in favor of accommodations being made by Fairlawn.”
Wintergreen Residents Misrepresented, Did They Not Come To An Agreement?
But as soon as Cities made that statement on air and published a story including the statement we immediately received pushback in the form of a letter from a Wintergreen resident who wished to stay anonymous.
The resident told us, the “reviews on Fairlawn Capital are not favorable from the perspective of their renters or their employees. And the resident wrote, “Jason Barickman has used his political ties to push this project forward.
The letter stated Barickman “has also repeatedly misrepresented the project and Wintergreen resident’s concerns to the public through local media. He has denied to media that this is primarily a rental property project, though he has confirmed in meetings that it will be in fact be rental as this is Fairlawn’s business model.”
The letter specified that “Barickman also stated to media that the residents of Wintergreen have agreed to support the proposal when it goes before the Town Council, which is not true.”
Be all of that as it may, the Normal Town Council approved the development
During discussion on Weldon at the council meeting, Councilmember Chemberly Harris broached the notion that people who rent are problems.
She told us afterwards, “A lot of the comments on issues did border on NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) which makes someone like me feel very uncomfortable and not feel like a neighbor in the community. Because while there are certain things being touted, you know, me myself, I couldn’t afford to live there whether I rent or buy.”
Harris continued, “And so the perception of what might come because they are renting or they are buying a house that’s maybe $100,000 or $200,000 less than what they own can be a little shocking to the system to hear some of that. So I just ask that people be more mindful when having conversations about things.”
You know, let’s talk about things like yes maybe the safety or some of the drainage issues but when we get into things that sounds like, you know, everyone’s welcome except for you, or you people or those people, it does, you know, change the dynamics of what’s supposed to be a welcoming community,” Harris said.
Councilmember Stan Nord, a Wintergreen Phase I resident, disagreed with Harris telling us it was wrong to frame the Wintergreen issue as a race thing. He said Wintergreen residents were concerned about many of the issues they had pointed out that we have discussed here; “cut through” traffic, the issue of rental properties, the “promise” of the previous land owner and covenants.
Nord also mentioned a couple of lesser voiced concerns. One was his opinion that the town is making Fairlawn take advantage of Wintergreen. The other was his belief that the increased “cut through” traffic through Wintergreen II could lead to an increase in child abductions.
