After pushback, developers revise proposed Yorkville subdivision

Following Yorkville residents saying they don’t want to be another Oswego, and aldermen balking at the idea of more townhomes, developers have submitted scaled down plans for the proposed Christie Property subdivision.

The revised plans completely eliminate the original townhomes and four-plex units that were receiving the most pushback.

The proposed plan reduces the original 346 dwelling units to 309 dwelling units. The plans now feature 100 single-family homes. The plans also include 126 age-targeted duplex homes and 83 age-restricted single-family units.

The proposal by developers Fox River Enterprise, LLC, features a 136-acre property located south of Fox Road, west of Morgan Street, and north of the Greenbriar subdivision. The site includes 88 lots from the undeveloped Williamsport subdivision.

A new public hearing for the revised development proposal is scheduled for August 13 during the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at City Hall. This date is changed from the original May 14 scheduled public hearing.

The developer’s initial proposal received pushback from neighboring residents, the Yorkville School District 115, and city officials at a previous public hearing.

Then the school district said it was already contending with the capacity issues its classrooms and allowing further growth in the town is unsustainable.

“The Yorkville school district is full‚” Kreg Wesley, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services, said at the last public hearing. “We need your support to slow development down and manage the growth.”

Several residents, including Michelle Nicholson and neighbors of the Rivers Edge subdivision, said the country setting and peacefulness that they moved to Yorkville for is being lost to uncontrolled development.

“I speak for many by saying we don’t want to be another Oswego,” Nicholson said at the last public hearing in March. “We want controlled, responsible growth that benefits our community and doesn’t negatively impact the values of our existing homes.”

Several aldermen attending the meeting said they wanted the full townhomes included in the plans scrapped, in favor of tradition residential housing. They also suggested replacing “age-targeted” with “age-restricted” because they feared incoming younger families could further overwhelm the school district’s classrooms.

City officials also wanted the results of a traffic study on the area and how the development and the necessary parking would affect congestion and density issues.