The Village of Monee appears to be fast-tracking a controversial plan to forcibly annex part of Green Garden Township, but its own Planning and Zoning Committee is slowing the pace.

At a recent meeting, committee members refused to rubber stamp annexation until they have had time to examine the latest development plan by Emeritus Ventures that would occupy 520 acres of Green Garden.

Green Garden residents, its government, and the Peotone School District which assert that they would be greatly impacted by high density development in its northernmost reaches, continue to oppose the plan.

Monee residents would be impacted as well, since any increase in village services, such as roads improvements as well as police and fire protection, would be borne by its residents, according to Will County Board Member and Green Garden resident, John Anderson.

"Belle-Meade is a bad deal for Green Garden," he says, adding, that it is bad for Monee too.

"Why would the village cause its taxpayers to extend services one and a half mile to annex a residential subdivision?" Anderson asked, explaining that residential development never pays for itself.

"They don't bring money into the village," he said. Building more homes at a high density would do no more than add to existing home inventory which would bring new property values down.

Yet high density development and building more rooftops is apparently what Monee officials have in mind.

That was evident when they approved an amendment to the village's comprehensive plan.

It was adopted unanimously December 9 by village trustees and "with no discussion," according to Village Clerk Missy Tovo, who is also the wife of Village President Dan Tovo.

Tovo refused to comment on the part of the plan that included annexation of 520 acres into Green Garden Township, "because the annexation agreement is still in progress," she said. She never mentioned that it was presently before the Planning and Zoning Committee.

"I see it in the future, but it is not in there yet," she said.

The annexation is shown on Monee's framework plan map, which depicts the majority of land to be annexed as medium to high density residential with some commercial located along Monee-Manhattan Road.

The Monee plan is clearly different than what Green Garden officials and planners had envisioned for their rural neighborhoods.

In Green Garden's comprehensive plan, the area being targeted by Monee, is to remain large-lot estate zoning and agricultural use. Approved by Will County, Green Garden's plan contained the original development, which would have fit more closely into the surrounding community. It contained 171 lots with open space. Horses were allowed. A riding facility which required and received a special use permit from its developers, Chicago-based Emeritus Ventures, was included. Homes were to cost in excess of $750,000.

But, in 2008 after the housing bubble burst, developers Rod Yarling and Per Loseth revised the housing plan to include a much higher density – smaller houses on smaller lots.

It would not have been approved in Green Garden Township, so developers took their plan to Monee.

The Citizens to Preserve Green Garden are vowing to continue to fight the proposal.

Their concerns are not just the rural ambience of their community, but include the following: