Campton Hills zoning panel votes against special use for private school but Village Board will have final say

The Campton Hills Planning and Zoning Commission has voted 4-2 not to recommend special-use zoning for Headwaters Academy, a private school, to operate in a residential neighborhood.

The commissions July 30 recommendation will go to the village board at a future date for final action.

Headwaters Academy is proposed for a five-acre lot at 42W420 Campton Hills Road and would be a nature-based Montessori school. It currently has 18 students signed up for the 2025-26 school year, but will cap enrollment at 25 for this year, school Executive Director Sarah Elliott said.

The school’s top capacity would be 45, with three teachers and three support staff, she said.

The continued hearing went for 3½ hours in a packed house, with most in attendance against the special use.

“The property is zoned RE2 residential and your zoning ordinance ... establishes this type of school as an authorized special use in that district,” Elliott’s attorney Harold Francke said. “So that means you can apply for it and you have to establish through fact that you satisfy the standards for the approval of a special-use request.”

In a PowerPoint presentation, Elliott showed the two-story house and accessory buildings and their distances from nearest neighbors – all over 150 feet and some over 300 and 400 feet.

In response to neighbor concerns about noise, Elliott measured the sounds of 10 children playing at 40 to 45 decibels, “which is equivalent to the sound level of a quiet library.”

Regarding a concern that children would wander away, Elliott showed various types of fencing. She also said the drop-off and pickup for children would be 8:45 to 9 a.m. and 3:15 to 3:30 p.m. weekdays during the school year.

Elliott also said operators would install a right-turn-only sign when parents exit onto Campton Hills Road.

Traffic engineer Andrew Bowen of Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Abbona Inc., said Campton Hills Road is a minor arterial. Traffic counts show it gets about 600 vehicles a day, so for morning and afternoon drop-off and pickup, there would be an additional 60 vehicles – “a relatively low volume,” Bowen said.

If the school’s enrollment does grow to 45, Bowen’s recommendation is to stagger the drop-off and pickup times.

Francke said the zoning change “will not endanger the public health or welfare.”

Elliott agreed to no more than 12 school events in any year and those would be after 5 p.m. for fundraisers, conferences or performances.

The school needs the Kane County Health Department to sign off on its septic field, but that requires a request from the village, not an individual. Elliott said she has asked the village to submit the request. Village attorney Carmen Forte said that would have to be a condition for the special use.

Nearby residents who are against allowing the school indicated they did not accept any of the reassurances. Daniel Korth, a retired geologist, said the property’s residential septic system was designed in the late 1970s for a family of four to five people.

“No doubt in my mind that the existing system is going to be overloaded,” Korth said. “Any sewage in that system is going to get flushed out and go downstream.”

Resident Hollie Bauron challenged the idea that toilet use at the school would pollute Mill Creek. Bauron said the real source of Mill Creek pollution is people spraying pesticides on their lawns.

Others cited various reasons not to permit the school. Nancy Roxworthy, who lives next to the proposed school, said the neighbors all signed a petition against it.

“With this commercial venture in my backyard, the peaceful serenity of the community will be changed,” Roxworthy said. “This school will bring children from far outside the neighborhood and Campton Hills. No one from our neighborhood is going there.”

Commissioners who voted against the special use were Jerry Johnson, Neal Anderson, Andro Lerario and James Kopec. The two who voted in favor were Chairman Rolf Fredrick and Christopher Tiedt. Commissioner Jim McKelvie was absent.