159th Street, Homer Glen
66 condos and duplexes, on land where the rules say zero.
ARYA is a plan for a big empty lot on 159th Street. The Village’s rulebook for that lot says no homes. Village staff say that to say yes to 26 condos and 40 duplexes, the Village would need a brand-new rule — one Homer Glen has never had — shaped to fit one developer’s drawing. This page shows what the Village’s own papers say, in plain words — and why Heidi is against it.
Nothing is approved yet. The developer filed an application in April 2026; Village staff are still reviewing it. No public hearing is on the calendar. The story so far
The same 15.5-acre lot on 159th Street, drawn twice, not to scale. Pink is the color the Village’s own zoning map uses for C-5.
The rule today, and the change ARYA asks for
Zoning is the Village’s rulebook for every piece of land: what can be built there, and what can’t. It is a promise to the neighbors about what goes next door. Here is the promise for this lot, and the change being asked for.
| TodayC-5, Office & Research Park | ARYA proposalR-6A + a new mixed-use district + PUD | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes | 0Not a residential district. | 6626 condos in two 3-story buildings; 40 duplex villas behind a gate. |
| What can be built | Offices, research, and restaurants by right. Retail, personal services, and data centers with a special-use permit. No gas stations. | About 30,000 sq ft of storefront retail and restaurants at 159th, condos on the two floors above, private duplex neighborhood to the north. |
| How many rules apply | One. C-5 — part of the only C-5 land in the Village, about 88 acres on 159th Street with a single building on it. | Two. R-6A for the duplexes — a rule that already exists. A mixed-use rule for the front buildings — one staff say the Village would have to write from scratch. |
| Price of a home | — | Condos “north of $500,000,” penthouses “approaching a million.” Duplexes from $600,000. (Developer, Feb. 11, 2026.) |
| Trees | East half wooded. The 2005 Comprehensive Plan marks it “Environmental Features to be Preserved.” | Staff: the site “will likely be cleared of all existing trees.” Mitigation or cash owed; no tree survey yet. |
| Public park | — | None proposed. About $293,000 cash to the Village instead, by staff’s estimate. |
| What the Village must do to say yes | Offices or restaurants: check the site plan. Retail: a special permit. No rule change — a restaurant-and-retail center was approved on this exact land in 2010 without one. | Staff’s path: write the new rule, change the map, and approve a planned development — each needs a Plan Commission public hearing and a Village Board vote. |
Sources: Village staff report of January 28, 2026; Village Code Table 2A; Board minutes of February 11, 2026. Full citations at the end of the page.
The plan residents were promised
Homer Glen adopted its Comprehensive Plan in early 2005 “to help define and manage future growth.” It is the Village’s written promise about what goes where — the promise people bought houses on. For this lot, the Village’s own staff report lists the plan’s designations, and then the developer’s ask:
- The plan says“Commercial”“Commercial Business Park”“Single-Family Low Density”“Environmental Features to be Preserved” — the woods
- ARYA asks for26 condos stacked on shops in two 3-story buildings40 duplexes on a private road behind a gateThe woods: staff says the site “will likely be cleared of all existing trees”
Twenty-six condos over shops appear nowhere in the plan’s designations for this lot, and no Village district allows them at this scale. Staff’s answer to that is written into the same report:
“As always, the Comprehensive Plan is to be used as a guide for making land-use decisions and is not always followed.”
Staff report, Committee of the Whole packet, January 28, 2026 — offering the Villas of Hidden Valley rezoning as the example
The plan still marks these woods to be preserved. What is on the table is changing the rules around it: a brand-new district, written around one developer’s drawing. That is the Board’s choice, and the one to watch.
Staff’s report reads the front half’s shops-then-homes layout as roughly in line with the plan, and its map legend calls the parcel “Agriculture and Related Uses.” Neither reading includes stacked condos or a cleared woodland.
Where the tall buildings would go, and how tall
The two big buildings sit right on 159th Street, one on each side of the driveway. Each is three stories with a parking level underneath, and the rule staff drafted for them allows 40 feet. Shops on the ground floor, condos on the two floors above.
Behind them, past a gate, are the 40 duplex homes — one-story ranch villas. The nearest Twin Lakes backyards are about 1,100 feet away, by the Mayor’s own figure. That is almost four football fields.
What the plan does to the lot, in fifteen seconds
An illustration of the sequence the application describes, starting from an aerial photo of the lot as it is. It is the campaign’s animation, not the developer’s rendering, and it is not to scale — the building count is schematic. What it gets right comes from the Village’s own papers:
- 1The west half is open ground; the east half is woods. The 2005 Comprehensive Plan marks the wooded half “Environmental Features to be Preserved.”
- 2The trees come down. Village staff, judging by the site plan: the site “will likely be cleared of all existing trees.” No tree survey has been submitted.
- 3Two three-story buildings go up right on 159th, shops below, condos above, a pond and a parking lot at each, then a gate, and 40 duplex homes on a private road where the trees stood.
None of this is approved. Seven questions the Board should answer first.
Tap the clip for sound. Illustration by the campaign, September 2026; not the developer’s rendering.
Why staff say this needs a brand-new rule
Homer Glen’s rulebook has districts for houses, for stores, for offices. None of them allows two floors of condos over shops at this size. The Village’s own planner wrote it down plainly:
“Currently, the Village does not have any current zone districts that would permit mixed-use with the number of residential dwelling units as proposed with Arya. As such, a new zone district would need to be created that would accommodate buildings of this size, height, use types, density, setbacks, etc.”
Staff report, Committee of the Whole packet, January 28, 2026
Homer Glen has circled this before. Staff floated a 159th Street mixed-use rule in 2022 for a project next door, and again for ARYA’s first version. Neither was written. In March 2024 the Village’s own summary of a town-center session said there was still no district that allowed multi-family. ARYA is the first project to file an application that forces the question.
Here is the part to watch. The new rule would be written for the whole Village — but its numbers come straight off this one developer’s drawing. The staff report lists the setbacks (how far a building must sit from the property line) like this:
- 70′front yard (as proposed)
- 17.5′side yard (as proposed)
- 250′rear yard (as proposed)
Three setbacks, three “(as proposed).” Plus a 40-foot height limit and 13 homes per building. Once the rule is written, those numbers apply to any lot in Homer Glen that gets this rule later — not just this one.
One more thing. The Village’s own 2026 housing plan, written by the same staff, says this kind of building can be done through a planned development “without the need for adopting new ordinances.” So a brand-new rule is a choice the Board would be making, not something the law forces. That makes it more important, not less, for the Board to say what the rule is for.
The story so far
Waterfall Place. The same developer wins approval for a four-story restaurant, office, and retail center on this land as a planned development — no rezoning needed on C-5. It is never built. The approval is extended at least seven times, through March 2021.
Next door, an 80-acre concept on the same C-5 block asks for 256 apartments, 50 duplexes, and a grocery center. Staff floats a 159th Street mixed-use overlay as one way to zone it. Neither happens.
ARYA, version one, at a Plan Commission workshop: 170 condos in four 4-story buildings behind two commercial buildings. Staff, in the minutes: “We do not have a zoning option for this,” and “changing the code will open us up to future developments that come through.”
The Village Board’s recorded consensus is to take it back to residents, “due to the fact the developers said this can include apartments instead of condos.” No resident workshop follows.
At a Plan Commission session on a possible town center, the Village’s written summary of staff and consultant answers to residents records: “Currently, for multi-family there is not a zoning district that allows for it right now.”
The Planning Director tells the Plan Commission that about 88 acres on 159th Street is “the only C-5 in the whole Village” — nearly all of it vacant.
ARYA returns at 66 units. The staff report says no existing district permits it and recommends creating one. The meeting minutes record the new district being proposed “to be reviewed in tandem with the project if the board wishes to proceed.”
Board workshop. Residents fill the room. The developer says condos will start north of $500,000 and duplexes at $600,000. No vote is taken; a trustee calls it “a preliminary workshop discussion only.”
Plans and a formal application reach Village staff. Under review by the Planning Director and the Village’s engineers since.
At its August 6 meeting the Plan Commission records an application conference being arranged with staff, with two commissioners named to attend. As of September 3, 2026: no public hearing scheduled, no zoning text amendment on any agenda, no Board vote.
- What comes next
A text amendment creating the district, a rezoning, and a planned development — each with a Plan Commission public hearing, then a Village Board vote.
Seven questions the Board should answer before it votes
Every one of these comes from the Village’s own paperwork. None has an answer yet.
Where is the traffic study?
It is item 2 on the Village’s own list of nine documents the project must provide. None had been submitted when the Board held its workshop. 159th Street is a state highway; the existing driveway has a left-turn lane and no right-turn lane.
How crowded is it, really?
Density means homes per acre. The Village counts it on the land left after roads and ponds come out, not the whole lot. Residents were told the plan stays under six homes per acre. But that six-per-acre cap is the duplex rule; the condos would sit under a rule that has no cap yet. At the workshop the real number was “unknown at this stage.” And the staff report checks the duplex area at “26 units/6 acres” — there are 40 duplex homes. Which number is right?
Will IDOT sign off?
Item 8 on the required list: “Written confirmation from IDOT that the existing driveway is adequate for the proposed use (turn lane required?)” The driveway and turn lane were built for the 2010 commercial plan. Whether that permission carries over to 66 condos and duplexes is the state’s call, not the Village’s.
What happens to the trees?
The east half is forested. Staff: “judging by the Site Plan, the site will likely be cleared of all existing trees.” The 2005 Comprehensive Plan marks that half “Environmental Features to be Preserved.”
Once the district exists, where else can it go?
A zoning district is village-wide law. Any parcel can be rezoned into it later by the same process. Staff said as much in 2022: “changing the code will open us up to future developments that come through.” The Board should say, on the record, where it intends this district to apply.
Will the shops ever get built?
The developer told the Board the commercial buildings will not go up until 70 percent of the condos are pre-sold. The same developer held an approved commercial plan for this land from 2010 to 2021 and built nothing. Who guarantees the storefronts, and what happens if only the houses come?
What about the rest of the block?
Homer Glen has one block of land zoned for offices and research — roughly 88 acres, one building on it. ARYA takes about 15. What is the plan for the other 70-odd acres, and does this district set the terms for them?
Quick answers
- What is ARYA in Homer Glen?
- ARYA is a proposed 15.5-acre mixed-use development on 159th Street in Homer Glen, Illinois: two 3-story buildings with about 30,000 square feet of commercial space and 26 condos, plus 40 duplex villas behind them — 66 condos and duplexes in all. The land is currently zoned C-5, Office and Research Park.
- Why would ARYA need a new zoning district?
- Homer Glen has no mixed-use zoning district. The Village staff report of January 28, 2026 states that no current zone district would permit mixed-use with the number of residential units proposed, and recommends creating one — it would be the first mixed-use district in the Village. The Village’s 2026 Affordable Housing Plan says mixed-use can also be done through a planned development “without the need for adopting new ordinances,” so a new district is a choice for the Board, not a legal requirement.
- Has ARYA been approved?
- No. The Village Board held a workshop on February 11, 2026, and the developer filed plans and an application in April 2026, which Village staff have been reviewing since. As of September 3, 2026 there has been no Plan Commission public hearing, no zoning text amendment, and no Board vote.
- What does Heidi Pacella think about ARYA?
- Heidi Pacella opposes the ARYA rezoning. The owner can build what the C-5 rules already allow — offices, research, restaurants, or the retail center the Village approved on this land in 2010. What she opposes is writing Homer Glen a first-of-its-kind mixed-use zoning district around one developer’s drawing, on the Village’s only office-and-research land, to put 66 condos and duplexes where the rules allow none. A rezoning is the Board’s choice, not a right.
Heidi opposes this rezoning
She said so at the podium on July 22, 2026, in front of the Village Board. Watch it:
The Village’s own recording, starting at her comment. Open on YouTube · Full comment, both rezonings · Every public comment
“The second rezoning issue is a few miles east on 159th, inside the village, on the same road — the ARYA high-density development. This one needs a zoning district written from scratch for this project, because right now it’s not a mixed-use area.”
“A rezone isn’t development, and no one has the right to one. It’s the board’s choice. So when it’s an actual vote, an actual tie, an actual choice this board controls — which way does it go for the residents? The feedback on 159th has been strong. We are asking for the votes to match them when the time comes.”
Not the owner’s right to build. The rules already let him build offices, research space, restaurants — or the shopping center the Village approved on this very land in 2010. He does not need a new rule for any of that.
What Heidi opposes is writing Homer Glen a rule it has never had, around one developer’s drawing, on the Village’s only office-and-research land, to put 66 condos and duplexes where the rules allow none — before a traffic study exists and before anyone knows the real density. Once that rule is written, it is there for the next developer too.
Homer Glen exists because of choices like this one. Residents voted to incorporate on April 17, 2001. The Village took “Community and Nature in Harmony” as its motto, and describes itself as a place that “continuously strives to maintain open space, preserve the unique rural character, and safeguard natural resources.” People moved here for that, not to become the next Orland Park. A first-of-its-kind district for stacked condos on the Village’s only office-and-research land, with the woods cleared, is the opposite of what this Village was founded to be.
She will be back at the podium when the application reaches a hearing.
Sources
- Village of Homer Glen — Committee of the Whole agenda packet, January 28, 2026: “Arya (Workshop): Future request for a PUD for a mixed-use, commercial and residential community on 15.5 acres,” staff report by Planning & Zoning Director Christopher Gruba (property data, zoning analysis, draft district regulations, density, park donation, tree removal, required plans). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, February 11, 2026: Committee of the Whole minutes of January 28, 2026 (“The village currently has no mixed-use zoning district, so staff recommends creating a new mixed-use zone”) and workshop item M.1. homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board minutes, February 11, 2026 (developer presentation, pricing, 70% pre-sale condition, resident questions, density exchange, public comment). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Plan Commission minutes, April 16, 2026 (staff: “we received plans and an application for the Arya project”). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Plan Commission agenda packet, August 6, 2026: Plan Commission minutes of July 16, 2026 (application under staff review). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Plan Commission agenda packet, September 3, 2026: Plan Commission minutes of August 6, 2026 (application conference being arranged with staff). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet and minutes, December 14, 2022: Plan Commission minutes of October 6, 2022 (ARYA’s first version; staff on the lack of a zoning option) and the Board’s recorded consensus. homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, August 8, 2018 (Waterfall Place, Ordinance 10-010, March 23, 2010, sixth extension). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, March 25, 2020 (Waterfall Place, seventh extension, through March 25, 2021). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, April 10, 2024: Town Center Visioning wrap-up, including the summary of the Plan Commission meeting of March 21, 2024 and its staff and consultant answers to residents (“Currently, for multi-family there is not a zoning district that allows for it right now.”). homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, February 26, 2025: Plan Commission minutes of February 6, 2025, data-center text amendment HG-2502-A (“That’s the only C-5 in the whole Village”); adopted by the Board that night. homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board agenda packet, April 22, 2026: 2026 Affordable Housing Plan (“without the need for adopting new ordinances”), adopted by Resolution 26-009. homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen Code, Chapter 220 (Zoning): Attachment 2, Table 2A Permitted and Special Uses (C-5 column); § 220-702 Planned development required; § 220-707 C-5 Office and Research Park District. ecode360.com
- Village of Homer Glen — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal 2021, transmittal letter: “By referendum vote, the Village was incorporated on April 17, 2001,” and “The Village officially adopted a Comprehensive Plan in early 2005 to help define and manage future growth.” homerglenil.org (PDF)
- Village of Homer Glen — Village Board minutes, December 13, 2023, Old Business: Board consensus to move from the slogan “You Know Your Home” to “Community and Nature in Harmony.” The Village’s community profile on the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge portal: “Having incorporated in 2001 with the motto ‘Community and Nature in Harmony,’ the Village continuously strives to maintain open space, preserve the unique rural character, and safeguard natural resources.” nwf.org
Last updated September 26, 2026. Quotations are verbatim from Village documents. No private resident is quoted on this page.