05/25/2026
The Directors of your Fullersburg Neighbors Group (Elaine Gilman, Dan Hemmer, Bob Lindgren and Eric Missil) met on Sunday evening to compare notes, observations and reactions to the Open House jointly hosted by Belmont Village Senior Living and McNaughton Development regarding their proposed joint development of a senior living complex and multi-family duplex development on the site of the IBLP’s former production center. This parcel is at the northwest corner of Ogden Avenue and Adams Street. The joint proposal is for a 164 unit senior living center/ nursing home (the Belmont Village portion) and 11 separate duplexes (the McNaughton portion), each containing two residences, for a total of 22 units. The duplexes proposed by McNaughton are not age restricted and will not be managed by the senior care facility. As you are aware, this site was the subject of similar proposals submitted and ultimately withdrawn by Ryan Development between 2020 and 2022.
While we understand that nothing has yet been officially submitted to the Village of Hinsdale, several important aspects of the joint application became clear. Following is a brief summary:
1) The applicants intend to submit a request for a Planned Unit Development covering both the Belmont Village and McNaughton portions of the development. PUDs as they are known are a device to circumvent established zoning without going through a full zoning change. Hinsdale’s Zoning Code has very specific requirements and limitations regarding PUDs. It will be extremely important to evaluate any proposals ultimately filed for conformance with these requirements. The established zoning for this site is primarily R-2 - single family residential with minimum lot sizes of 20000 sf. A small portion has been zoned for limited institutional use (e.g., churches, schools, government buildings) but does not permit commercial activity or nursing homes. We believe that the zoning code, established through an open and prescribed process, should be maintained unless change is clearly demonstrated to be in the community interest.
2) Initial reports suggested that the Belmont/McNaughton proposal is significantly smaller than the previous Ryan proposal. This is not the case. The revised proposal is substantially identical in scale to the Ryan proposal that generated intense community opposition. Specifically, the Belmont/McNaughton proposal calls for a central building including 269 units and 11 separate 2-unit duplexes or 291 total units. The final Ryan proposal had 280 rooms in the central building and 20 stand-alone units for a total of 300 units. The Ryan proposal also included a 16 acre park. The Belmont/McNaughton proposal does not. On size alone, the revised project is subject to the same questions and objections as the Ryan proposal.
3) Many residents expressed a high level of concern regarding traffic impacts of the Ryan proposal. Belmont and McNaughton did not identify any measures to address this concern. We continue to believe that a project of this scope will further worsen an already compromised intersection at Ogden Avenue and Adams, with implications for other Fullersburg roads. Madison will likely experience increased traffic as drivers will divert from Adams to use the signaled intersection at Ogden Avenue and Madison. This is a safety issue, not merely a matter of convenience.
4)This section of Fullersburg is plagued by flooding and stormwater management problems. The existing vacant IBLP production center sits in a flood zone and stormwater is diverted downstream to residential sections of Fullersburg. A development of this magnitude will certainly worsen this situation. The proposal includes only minimal and legally questionable stormwater basins.
We are concerned that the proposed development would even be presented when it is so nearly identical to the final Ryan proposal, without the public benefit of a park. Absent significant reductions in scale and the addition of a public benefit to justify upzoning the site, we are concerned the site is fatally flawed for large institutional development and that its “highest and best use” continues to be for single family residences under the R-2 category.
Again, we believe nothing has been officially submitted to the Village. We suggest that you direct your questions to the Village. Current Assistant Director of Planning, Bethany Salmon, was at the meeting. Her contact email is [email protected]. We will of course continue to update you as we learn more. Thank you for your commitment to protecting Fullersburg.
Sincerely,
The Directors of the Fullersburg Neighbors Group
The Fullersburg Wood Neighborhood spans Northern Hinsdale and Southern Oak Brook. It is a unique community which predates the villages of Hinsdale and Oak Brook. The Fullersburg Neighbors Group works to protect our neighborhood from overdevelopment. We hope to maintain the seamless blend of elevated residential living, deep historical roots, and the serene, protected woodland ecosystem so rare this close to a major metropolis like Chicago. Please email one of the volunteer directors if you have any concerns or questions. We share our opinions freely as individuals, and when we speak as a group we put the group name on the email. Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/887355071771588 . Join us on Facebook and send this email on to friends in our neighborhood who want to join this Google Group email list.
