The River Hill development is a premiere conservation community proposed for Waukegan, Illinois, situated inthe beautiful and desirable River Road corridor. River Hill is envisioned as a comprehensive green project that embraces the most progressive ideas in open space preservation, habitat restoration, storm water management, as well as green design and construction. It is designed to be a “Green From The Ground Up™” community.

The River Hill Conservation Community will augment the local community by creating new park space, access to the Des Plaines River Trail, significant habitat restoration and habitat preservation. It is our goal that River Hill will set the standard for development along the River Road corridor for preservation, aesthetics, and community responsibility.  Aesthetically, River Hill will be a natural extension of the existing landscape, and substantially enhance many of the unique features of the River Road corridor. 

At River Hill Conservation Community, a sense of community will occur on three levels: the front door, the neighborhood, and the River Road corridor.  To accomplish this, the neighborhood will have a “sense of place”, both locally and regionally: direct access to the natural elements at their doorstep; tightly integrated habitat restoration; community and home-site design; environmentally responsible construction and energy efficiency of each home. The intent is to create a community that carefully balances a modern lifestyle with an environmental conscience.

The homes of River Hill Conservation Community will combine the best and most current elements of green industry and technology, making each home as energy efficient and cost effective to own as possible. It is our belief that the homes will set a standard not only for energy efficiency, but for design and quality as well.  The homes will be designed in such a way that the owner will enjoy the benefits of the land restoration and natural elements presented at their doorstep.  Each home will be built using methods and materials that focus on reducing the carbon footprint of the home in as many ways as possible.  Some of the features included are: recycled gravel for foundation fill and road beds; factory constructed walls, floor joists, and roof trusses; wood products that are engineered or come from managed forests (FSC certified wood products); tank-less gas water heaters; dual fuel or geothermal heat pumps with high efficiency furnaces and air conditioning units with SEER of 16 or more, variable speed blowers, and multi-zone control; insulation and roofing materials with high quantity of recycled content and high R value; solar panels on each home to create a community wide solar array; high efficiency low E glass windows; adhesives, caulk and paint with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs); maintenance-free exteriors that are pre-finished and made partly from renewable resources; energy star rated lighting fixtures or compact fluorescent bulbs; low flow and water conserving water fixtures and toilets; energy star rated appliances. And finally, every effort will be made to acquire materials and products from local manufacturers and suppliers.

In the same way that Prairie Crossing set the standard for early large-scale conservation communities, we believe that River Hill will become the modern prototype for green community infill projects. We hope that traditional builders and developers will learn from this project and apply our techniques throughout the region, making metropolitan Chicago the leader in environmentally responsible development, and community focused design.