With $40,000 coming towards the pockets of the Whispering Meadows Homeowners Association for reimbursed maintenance costs, a 20-year ordeal in Yorkville is coming to a close.

It’s a story residents in the subdivision know all to well. Kimball Hill Homes began construction on the neighborhood in 2005-06.

Then suddenly in 2009 the hammers and construction crews fell silent.

The developers went bankrupt, suddenly abandoning the project. Streets remained unfinished, the subdivision remained in partial-completion for several years.

In both 2011 and 2014, the city filed lawsuits against the developers and their various bond entities.

In 2018, the city approved an $800,000 settlement from one of the property’s previous partners, Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland. Fidelity agreed to pay the funds which were used to repair and repave many of the neighborhood’s neglected streets and sidewalks that had fallen into disrepair.

In 2024, another partner, TRG Two, LLC agreed to pay the city a $760,000 settlement. The city has used each chunk of settlement money throughout the years to complete the needed infrastructure throughout the subdivision.

The city approved reimbursing the HOA $40,000 for work incurred over several years for further infrastructure maintenance, including on a detention basin, during the Jan. 13 City Council meeting.

Alderman Matt Marek said the residents of Whispering Meadows and the HOA have been heavily involved in helping bring this chapter to a close.

“This is a little bit to bring closure to a very long situation,” Marek said during the meeting. “This has been going on since the subdivision was officially being built. Unfortunately, presently we are having the rest of the subdivision built out and are dealing with the noise. But that is progress, and it’s a good thing. It may be done in about a year, if not less. Thank you to the residents for putting up with this for the last 20 years now.”

In February 2025, the city spent $250,000 on Whispering Meadows to provide engineering solutions to mitigate the area’s frequent flooding. A new outflow system is designed to channel rainwaters into the Rob Roy drainage ditch and out towards the Fox River.

That money also came from the settlements.

To improve the area for residents, the city also recently finished Faxon Road as part of the city’s $3 million 2024 Local Road Program.

Proposed data center nearby

The city is entertaining plans for a 53.7-acre DMYF-Loftus, Malinski Yorkville family, LLLP data center near Whispering Meadows.

The data center campus is proposed for the north end of Faxon Road, east of Beecher Road, and south of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.

The developers’ plans for the data center include a minimum 100-foot landscaped buffer with an eight foot tall berm due to the proximity of Whispering Meadows.

The plan also contains a 400-foot setback from any of its buildings to the nearest homes in the neighboring residential subdivisions, including Whispering Meadows, Kylyns Ridge, Kendall Marketplace, and the Caledonia subdivision.