Sugar Grove Best suburb in State (Schaumburg, St. Charles: loan, house, middle school)

[Drover]

I remember when Sugar Grove was a speck of dirt way the hell out in the country. How times change, I suppose.

[wcts]

Dekalb isnt that far from Sugar Grove (15 minutes)and please yes keep thinking that Sugar Grove is way out there.

'it sounds like Kimball Hill may not be in the best financial position right now. I think they missed the success of that development by about 2 years"

It's more like they jumped the gun. It will pick back up. Personally I am happy for the current economic adjustment and slow down. Anyone that didnt see in coming was living in a fantasy world.

As far as people getting tickets for speeding and generally poor driving, You got what you deserved. I think Sugar Grove could do a better job with the traffic issue with in the village. Gravel haulers blowing the RT 47 at Cross street light at 60 MPH, idiots running stops signs all day in the school zone. Its wrong

I have lived in Sugar Grove for 15 years and overall have a very favorable opinion of it. Its a town that is on the verge of a population explosion, Its predicted that we could easily expland to 60,000 or more in the next 20 years or so. With the way that Naperville and Aurora grew in the 1990's its easy to imagine. I feel that the current situation this town has a great chance being unique and different. Most likely it will be just like every other city planning and growth control. I do not want to offend anybody with my next statement if I am wrong please point it out to me. I hope that Sugar Grove can learn from the multitude of mistakes that Naperville, Aurora, Oswego,Montgomery and Plainfield have made. I avoid all those places as much as I can. Cookie cutter business plans that go like this, Some giant retailer like WalMart will decide to build in a town, Orchard and Route 30 for example, Just like an infectious desease all the outlots start to fill up, First its some over priced pretencious coffee shop then its some video game reseller, then a bank pops, up then an Arbys , There isnt a Walgreens for at least 1/4 mile so up goes that. Now that shopping malls are dying you are getting stores like JCPenny everywhere ( I am amazed at how long it took them to wake up, hello Sears is owned by KMart now.) Its like that up and down Route 34 Route 59 Randall, and every town between here and Chicago. Traffic that is unbelievably bad, people stopping there cars in the middle of an intersection because some other idiot tapped their bumper not paying attention instead are yacking on their cell phone. The whole road has to be inconvienced because these to morons cant pull into a gas station to deal with it.

It would be refreshing if somebody decided to break the mold, Maybe Kimball Hill ought to roll the dice and try something innovative, I do think their houses are nice but when you go from one subdivision to another it gets dizzying looking at the same 10 designs over and over and over again. Do the affordable housing developments hold up? Decide for yourself, grafitti all over the southeast side Some mornings Middelbury Drive looks like the side of a NYC subway car. Aurora does a good job of getting a guy out there with a paint roller but you are only painting over the problem. Hows Boulder Hill holding up? I have been in dozens of homes and have to say that after 30 years most of those homes became very maintenance heavy and it isnt getting done by a small fraction of homeowners that cant keep up with it and the houses end up full of rot, dry and wet.
Every road widening only makes the traffic worse. I was on Eola at Indian trail last night at 7:30pm it was like the day after christmas traffic. People there deal with this daily. God bless them I couldnt do it. I move out of there 15 years ago and I couldnt belileve how bad it was then. If that happens here I will continue to migrate west.



Sorry for the ramble but had to get it out.

[Suburban2332]

I live out in Sugar Grove and there is some good stuff said. It is true that Kimball Hill is hurting and close to BK. I personally do not like the look of Settlers Ridge, but everyone has their own idea of what looks good.

Sugar Grove will be on the brink of really "breaking out" in 2010. The Solheim Cup(which is the female version of The Masters) will be held in Sugar Grove at Rich Harvest Farms. Anyone know anything about Rich Harvest Farms knows the owner is one of the Richest guys in the not only Chicagoland, but the midwest. This is an international event that will draw lots of people. Also, Galena Boulevard will be extended this year and in the works there are lots of retail/dining coming in the next two years.

Now in two years, the area IMO will explode. The housing will start back up and with quick access to I-88 you will see a huge boom.

But as for now, Sugar Grove is a town with about 10K residents that has grown enormously over just 5 years. It was "Dirt" in the road 10 years ago, but with sprawl(just like Naperville back in the 80s/90s) it has a changing idetnity.

Also Hannaford Farms and Bliss Woods can compete with any suburban Neighborhood as for as quality and size.

[irish setter girl]

I agree that Sugar Grove has the potential to exlpode but there are so many "new growth" issues to work out. I attended so many planning committee meetings/board meetings etc... out there and it always came down to the retail won't come until we have "X" number of roofs to use their services. Well people won't move out there until you have the schools,firemen,police,library to service the community. Unfortunately you need the retail to offset the tax dollars for the schools,firemen,police,library etc... During my short time out there one referendum was passed, the whole waterpark debacle was going on, plans for the new town center came and went and finally the Jewel came to town. It is a catch 22 for the governments of those booming towns because people can afford the homes but not the taxes ,but they need the taxes to build the schools and homes so that retail will come in. I could not justify spending amost 11k in taxes and having my kids bussed to Montgomery for school. For the poster who was concerned about the Walgreens moving in, I think one is coming to Sugar Grove soon. I read the development plan and Walgreens was listed recently. It will certainly help to diversify the tax base. I agree that Hannaford Farms can compete with any suburban development- great homes, great lots, great builders but the taxes are outrageous. My friend who built in there got her tax bill and it was almost 20k!!! I wish success with the referendum coming up. I would vote to help you out if I could. I still get all the literature and emails sent to me but I'm no longer in Kane County.

[sgresident]

I have lived in Sugar Grove for just over 20 years and I am really wondering where in town that irish setter girls friends live. If their taxes are 20,000 then they must live in a very expensive home. my home is on 1/2 acre lot, approx 2800 sq ft. 4 bedrooms, assessed valuation just over 300,000. taxes are just over 6 thousand.
The community is growing at a nice pace. not too fast. retail is coming, slower than most would like and yes, walgreens is in the future. we are seeing the construction of numerous office buildings(some medical offices), a commercial area along 47 with plans for a couple of food establishments, the plans are moving forward for a new library to begin this spring/summer.there is also a private preschool being built on a jewel outlot.
although kimball hill is having difficulties, the village officials have been working with developers to assist where possible. just read today that KH is refinancing some of their debt and getting extensions. the creditors don't want them to fail.
It has been a great town to live in and to raise a family. I would not want to live anywhere else!

[irish setter girl]

Sgresident, yes my friend lives in a very nice house in Hannaford Farms. She has appealed her taxes with the village and hopes to get them down to 14k or so. They are taxing her on a lot of unfinished space in the home and her builder is working with the village to make the adjustments. She was told when she built that the taxes would be in the 11-12k range. There are homes selling in the 450k range with tax bills in the 11k range. The one thing I could never figure out with taxes out there is how they assess you. My former neighbors, we all paid about the same for our homes when we moved in. All of our taxes varied at least 3k from one another. Plus, homes that had sold years before we moved in but were probably worth the same amount of money paid quite a bit less than us. I agree that Sugar Grove has many wonderful aspects and I certainly know why you enjoy living out there. I loved my home and neighbors too. I spent a lot of time at Bliss Woods since I could walk there from my home. What a great forest preserve!

[sgresident]

irishsetter girl,
the village does not set any of the tax assessments. that is done by the sugar grove township assessor and tax appeals have to be filed with kane county tax assessor. typically, the property tax bill is approximately 2% of the assessed valuation of the home. I don't know how the assessor figures it out either!!! my home assesses for over 300,000 and my neighbor across the street is barely 200. their house is a little smaller, but is a ranch, so it takes up more actual land space. go figure!

[aragx6]

I've also heard (don't know if this is the case there or not) of areas where they tax new developments more heavily than older ones so as not to price old residents out.

[irish setter girl]

SGresident, yes the township assessor is responsible for the tax assessment. I used the word village incorrectly. Thanks for clarifiying. Aragx6, you very well could be correct in your thinking. When I moved into my old neighborhood there were homes around me that were 5-10 years older. They were worth about the same as I paid for my home but their taxes were always less. However, I was looking at a new listing out there and noticed their tax bill went up 3k in one year!! I wonder if they are starting to tax the older homes a bit more. I also saw a home for sale in Hannaford has a tax bill of 16,700k. When this home sells I can't image what the new bill will amount to. All in all you are going to pay heavy taxes in the chicago area. SGresident, I spoke to my Hannaford friend today and she was able to get the empty space above her garage removed from her tax bill. It shaved off 1600k and an unfinished attic was removed which shaved 2900 so her bill most likely will be about 15500k which is still less than the taxes on one of the home for sale in there. She feels somewhat satisified.

[sgresident]

irishsetter girl, good to hear about your friends' taxes. for some reason all of the assessors out this way have trouble getting the new stuff on the books in a timely fashion. also, everything gets re-assessed every 3 years in some type of cycle. i don't know how to figure it out, but they say everything is divided up throughout the township into thirds. one more way to keep us in the dark!