“There's a lot to fight for”: Homeowners resist developer's offer

Mark Kiel's neighborhood lies east of Route 83, near Bensenville and on the edge of O'Hare International Airport, yet life in Oakdale Woods is quiet, “like in the country.”

East of the development, along Old Grand Avenue, is Fischer Farm, a historic farm that sells eggs. It's a community where neighbors wave to each other.

“The people who want to stay have to fight for a lot,” said Kiel.

He and other Oakdale Woods residents oppose a developer's attempts to buy homes in the unincorporated area. They put up yellow signs against the “Transwestern Industrial Buyout.”

“I know some people want to stay for their children. Some people want to stay because it's close to work… I'm at a point in my life where I want to stay here as long as possible,” said Marie Starsiak, a retired teacher.

According to a spokesperson, Transwestern has no information to share at this time.

In recent years, other homes near O'Hare have been demolished to make way for industrial redevelopment.

Oakdale Woods residents say there are about 90 homes in the neighborhood.

The residents include seven women, ages 59 to 80, who live in a Ray Graham Association home. They all have intellectual or cognitive disabilities.

“These are also women who I fear, given their age and disability, this would be a very difficult step for them to take and, in my opinion, would put their health and happiness at great risk, which we don't do.” “We don't want that said Kim Zoeller, president and CEO of the nonprofit.

The home is staffed around the clock and is specifically tailored to women and their mobility needs. “We’re happy where we are,” Zoeller said.

“It would be … a very costly and very disruptive exercise on our part to try to replicate what we have in Bensenville,” she said. “And that doesn't even say anything about the quality of life of the women who really enjoy living together and thought they would be in their home forever.”

The market

About three years ago, dozens of homes in Bensenville's incorporated Mohawk Terrace neighborhood were razed to make way for industrial space.

“We continue to see developers looking for a piece of land to try to build more warehouses or even demolish existing warehouses to build more modern Class A properties,” Bensenville Village Manager Evan Summers said.

What makes the area so attractive to developers?

“We have O’Hare. We have train stations. We have the toll roads, the highways. “This is a logistics center,” Summers said. “And as more and more commerce moves online and we all shop online, it is logistics that makes this possible. So it involves storing goods and transporting goods with trailers to their final destinations.”

Oakdale Woods residents say they received letters with offers on their homes in June. According to a copy sent to the Daily Herald, the initial budget for the land is $30 per square foot. The Transwestern spokesman did not respond to a request to confirm the number.

Residents came to the village with a copy of the letters they received, Summers said.

“We were kind of surprised. “We didn’t know these letters were going to go out,” he said.

Summers met with Transwestern once. That was in July.

“Basically, the village’s position on this and what we have communicated to them is that we will not engage in negotiations with the homeowners. The Oakdale Woods neighborhood is a quiet neighborhood,” Summers said. “It’s not registered. It’s not our responsibility, so these homeowners can make the decisions that are right for their families.”

“Don’t feel like moving”

Most properties in Oakdale Woods are about half an acre, Chris Weinbrenner said, and some are slightly larger. He said he was offered just over $600,000 in June.

“For the most part, everyone has their price, and then there are some people who are literally dying in their home and are fine with that. “Right now I have absolutely no desire to move,” Weinbrenner said.

Opponents acknowledge that some people want to sell.

“Everyone got the letter, and … it really changes the equation of how you're going to sell your house, when you're going to sell your house, why you're going to sell your house,” Starsiak said.

The subdivision is part of Elmhurst Unit District 205. Starsiak worries about “the families, the people who have small businesses here.”

“I see the unincorporated areas around these cities and in DuPage County as kind of a middle ground. We are a middle ground. We are an economic middle ground,” she said.

The houses have wells and sewage systems. Although it's near O'Hare, Starsiak wouldn't call Oakdale Woods idyllic, but it is nature-oriented.

“Until they decide to stop pursuing us,” Weinbrenner said, “we will continue our fight. But at the same time everything will be in suspension, like a cloud hanging over our heads.”