Ivanhoe Village & Other Residential Developments Updates

November 24, 2025

Dear Mayor Meier & Mundelein Board of Trustees:

We are writing as the leaders of your local school districts regarding a critical issue: ensuring responsible, collaborative planning for new residential growth in the Village of Mundelein. In April 2025, the Village of Mundelein adopted a new impact fee ordinance that drastically reduces the developer's "fair share," resulting in developers offering approximately 50-80% less than before. 

When new residential construction occurs, it generates increased enrollment in local schools, requiring investments in classrooms, infrastructure, and student transportation. Impact fees are designed to ensure developers, rather than existing residents, cover these capital expenses.

Currently, revisions to the Village of Mundelein’s impact fee structure will result in a revenue loss of more than $1.5 million for local school districts from the Walnut Ridge and Solaria Crossings projects. As a consequence, the financial responsibility for accommodating this new growth would shift from developers to the community’s taxpayers. This new ordinance clearly pushes us toward the prospect of higher taxes, reduced educational programming, and larger class sizes.

This affects every taxpayer in our districts (including residents in Hawthorn Woods, Wauconda, Lincolnshire, etc.) because our schools are a shared resource. Residents who cannot vote for the Mundelein Village Board are still financially affected by your decisions.

Our Goal: Collaborative, Responsible Growth
We support responsible growth but insist on improved collaboration between the Village of Mundelein and its taxing partners. We urge the Village to take the following concrete steps:

1. Revise the new impact fee ordinance with formal input from the impacted school districts.
2. Ensure annexation and zoning decisions include formal input from taxing agencies from the very beginning.
3. Form a joint committee comprising representatives from taxing bodies to develop a responsible, long-term growth plan.

The time for collaborative, responsible governance is now. We urge the Village Board to move swiftly to revise the current ordinance, protecting the quality of education and safeguarding our taxpayers from an unnecessary shift in financial burden. We stand ready to partner with you to develop an equitable and sustainable solution.

Sincerely,