Cedar Lake homeowners ask council for help with developer

Several homeowners approached the Cedar Lake Town Council at their meeting on March 18 in an attempt to get some concerns addressed with the developer of the Rose Garden Estates subdivision, Lennar Homes, on the west side of town.

Council vice president Greg Parker thought it was important enough to invite the complainants back the next night to the plan commission where they could air their grievances directly to the developer’s representative.

During the public comment section at the town council meeting, James Kypuros listed his concerns he would like to see addressed before Lennar’s bond is released. Kypuros noted the streets, sidewalks and the 4-year-old berm behind his house are all in need of attention.

“The berm, it’s too steep. There’s erosion,” Kypuros said. “I’ve been working with Lennar for three years. I had the head of land development for Lennar out in ‘23, (and) promised to do things. Nothing got done.”

Parker told Kypuros until Lennar’s punch list is completed, they will not be released from their bond. He said it won’t cover issues involving individual homes, but “the subdivisions, sidewalks, streets, things of that nature will be repaired before any bond is released.”

“And we are monitoring that,” Parker said.

Director of Public Works Tim Kubiak said once the performance bonds have been released, Lennar is still responsible for improvements to those items for the next three years. Kubiak emphasized the bonds have not been released.

Kypuros said he came to Town Hall last year to request the punch list, but instead he received the engineering report for the project, which covered sanitation and sewers instead of the list of items that need to be addressed before the bond is to be released. Kubiak reiterated the bonds have yet to be released.

“We still haven’t gotten that first 150 items,” Kubiak said. “They supposedly have them addressed now, but it’s far from being done.”

Kypuros said he made three phone calls to Lennar’s customer service representative, Tom McSharry, but never received a call back. Councilman Rich Thiel said some residents almost had a meeting with Lennar, but the developer pulled out.

“That was actually going to happen last Friday (March 14),” Thiel said. “The resident had the room reserved here, and then Friday around noon, I received a call from the resident that she was told that he misspoke, was not going to offer the meeting to air out their differences. They were going to handle the issues with the residents individually.”

Thiel was told by the residents if they couldn’t get the meeting with Lennar, they would attend the plan commission meeting to voice their concerns.

The next night at the plan commission meeting, Parker recommended to president John Kiepura to get McSharry to agree to have a representative from the company to meet with the residents at a later date so their concerns can be addressed. He alleged Lennar hasn’t been “real forthcoming” in regards to working with the town, although Parker acknowledged McSharry has been good to work with. Nevertheless, he wants to see Lennar do more for the people of Cedar Lake.

“These are the people that live in our community,” Parker said to McSharry. “We would like for you to service their needs.”

Dennis Bagdon said he hopes the commission members walk through Rose Garden prior to releasing Lennar’s bond for the contract. Parker said the developer “wasn’t even close” to that happening.

“If they meet all the town’s requirements on their end, infrastructure, what’s in that subdivision,” Parker said, “their bond would get released.”

Pam Howard said McSharry was willing to meet with the group of residents, but said Lennar’s area manager, Andre Hatami, told her they wouldn’t hold the meeting. Hatami told Howard to create a list of names and problems they were experiencing, he would address them one-on-one, she said.

McSharry said he was unaware Hatami allegedly told the residents they couldn’t meet with him. Nevertheless, Howard encouraged other concerned citizens to address the plan commission.

“(Hatami) told me he wouldn’t allow that meeting to happen after (Thiel) was kind enough to help me set it up,” Howard said. “That’s why I encouraged people to come tonight because the town needs to know, and we need to know, where to go for help.”

The commission expressed their wishes for McSharry to set up a meeting with the residents to address their concerns with Lennar.