Tall Grass plan put on hold
PRAIRIE GROVE – Plans to build the 644-home Tall Grass subdivision have been placed on hold while the developer considers other options for the land.

"We haven't completely abandoned it, but we haven't confirmed what we are going to do," said Rick Swanson, principal of Westminster Swanson Land Partners.

Swanson on Wednesday submitted a letter to the Village Board outlining his latest intentions to hold on the subdivision.

"The market is softening, and there has just been a lot of ridiculous demands on us from the village," Swanson said.

In July, the Village Board annexed 240 acres, owned by Westminster Swanson, to Prairie Grove for the subdivision.

The annexation deal nearly fell through as village officials and Swanson clashed over the proposed size of town homes and quality of materials for the homes.

Another 100 acres, owned by other parties, were expected to be purchased and annexed in the future for a total development of 340 acres that would be located south of Route 176 between Valley View and Smith roads.

"We don't know what we are going to do now other than take a wait-and-see approach," Swanson said. "We are looking and exploring a lot of different directions for the property."
Although Tall Grass plans have been placed on hold, Swanson said he didn't expect that to affect plans for the 1,405-unit Terra Cotta subdivision across 1,165 acres, which also was proposed by Westminster Swanson.

"We're moving forward with Terra Cotta," Swanson said. "We remain engaged with it, and we are excited."

Village officials and Swanson have been working with Applied Ecological Services to create "conservation development" in Terra Cotta to preserve green space.

Village President Michael Breseman said now that the Tall Grass plans would be revisited, he hoped that the conservation development concepts could be applied to that project, too.

To persuade Swanson, Breseman said the village would be willing to defer about $227,000 in annexation fees that Swanson still owes the village.

"If he decides to do a development that is smaller and less dense, we are willing to defer it until he sells," Breseman said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to get something different."

Westminster Swanson is an entitlement developer, which means that the company does the legwork for preparing a development and then sells the proposal to a home builder.

Prairie Grove District 46 Superintendent Mary Fasbender said she didn't expect the hold on Tall Grass to drastically change the district's plan to address rising enrollment. Regardless of Tall Grass, students still are coming, she said.

"It's not just about Tall Grass," Fasbender said. "We are already at capacity, and we are still going to grow."

By BRANDON COUTRE
bcoutre@nwherald.com