Sugar Grove Gadfly

06/24/2025

Kaneland School District 302 has sued Sugar Grove, asking a judge to dissolve The Grove tax increment financing district redevelopment project, Kane County court records show.

04/18/2025

🚨🚨🚨 Hi folks, the situation unfortunately just got much worse. There is now a call for a special Village Board meeting **AT EIGHT A.M.** just a couple of days after the special Planning Commission meeting. Based on the agenda, it appears the usual process of discussing an agenda item at one meeting and voting on it at the next meeting is being abandoned. Jen Konen appears to be completely committed to pushing this through, despite a vast majority of voters asking her to do the exact opposite.

04/18/2025

🚨Lame-duck Village President Jen Konen is attempting to expedite a hearing for a portion of the Crown project (final platting of area one) in the eleventh hour of her term.

On April 8th, Village President Elect Sue Stillwell took a responsible, legally-grounded route. She submitted a legal opinion showing the TIF that underpins the Crown project is likely invalid and asked Village Administrator Scott Koeppel and the Village Attorney to facilitate a 90-day pause of the approval process given the transition of administration.

On April 11th, Crown paused their application and withdrew it from the April 16th Planning Commission agenda. When April 16th came around, however, Crown again submitted a plat application. Jen, in the waning days of her term, is now calling for a special meeting of the Planning Commission.

As a result, Sue personally reached out to Jen, asking her to call off the meeting. Jen responded by accusing Sue and the Village Attorney (hired by Jen’s administration) of “acting recklessly,” going on to claim, “everything you are attempting to do is an illegal overreach.”

All of these developments come in the wake of one of the highest-turnout consolidated elections in recent Sugar Grove history. Jen was soundly defeated by Sue and the referendum rejecting the Crown development passed with effectively the same margin. It was as clear and overwhelming a repudiation as a community our size can deliver.

In addition to seemingly flying in the face of the results of the Crown referendum, this last-minute push could potentially place the Village in a problematic legal position. Proceeding with approvals now, after the Village has been put on formal notice that the TIF is legally vulnerable, would likely be scrutinized in court.

Of course, this all raises the question: why? Jen could have accepted the judgment of her neighbors and quietly stepped aside. If this is allowed to proceed, we believe her legacy will be remembered not for collaborative leadership, but for doubling down even after voters firmly rejected her vision.

Sugar Grove deserves better. Thankfully, after four long years, we’re finally going to get it on May 6th.

04/02/2025

🎉 Congrats to Sue, Mike, and Nora! 🎉

04/01/2025

03/27/2025

Despite the possible litigation from the school board, it appears work has begun on the Crown property. Notably, it appears to be J&S’s equipment. J&S is one of Jen Konen’s largest campaign donors ($10,000)

03/21/2025

There have been multiple reports from community members that comments have been deleted and people have been blocked on Jen Konen’s official campaign page. When covering these situations in the past, the Gadfly has reviewed the posts in question and has taken screenshots to substantiate people’s claims. However, in this case, our page also appears to have been blocked, so our typical review process isn’t possible. If you’ve been the subject of censorship, please let us know in the comments below!