Proposed 130-acre Christie Property project pulled out of Yorkville

It was the battle cry heard ‘round Yorkville – ‘We don’t want to be another Oswego.’

Following significant opposition from community members and the Yorkville School District 115, the developers of the “Christie Property” townhome subdivision plan in Yorkville have withdrawn their plans.

The original plans envisioned up to 346 dwelling units, target for the senior residents, on a 130-acre site located south of Fox Road, west of Morgan Street and north of the Greenbriar subdivision.

When reached for comment, Krysti Barksdale-Noble, the city’s community development director, said the developers, Fox River Enterprise, LLC, along with the Christie Family Trust, did not provide the city any reasoning when withdrawing their applications.

Barksdale-Noble said all future meetings related to the project have been cancelled. She said there is currently no other developments planned for the 130-acre site.

Several community members from the neighboring Rivers Edge subdivision and a school district representative voiced their opposition to the townhome subdivision at the March 4 economic development meeting at City Hall.

“We moved to Yorkville because of the country setting and the peacefulness it provided,” Michelle Nicholson, of the Rivers Edge subdivision, said during the meeting. “When I found out this project will change all of that with the density, I was very upset. I speak for many by saying we don’t want to be another Oswego.”

Nicholson’s public comments were followed by a string of several residents speaking out against what they called rapid, unsustainable growth tarnishing Yorkville’s small-town charm.

Continuing a wave of opposition from the school district against any new housing developments that would further exacerbate the schools’ classroom capacity crisis, Kreg Wesley, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services, said the development would have generated between 162-200 new school-age students.

Student enrollment in the district has tripled since 2002, without significant public investment in upgrading school facilities or constructing new buildings.

“The Yorkville school district is full,” Wesley said during the meeting. “About a year from now, we’re going to ask the voters to approve a referendum to decide how we can enlarge the school district. We are building temporary facilities at three schools to house 12 classrooms because our facilities are full.”

Wesley pleaded to city representatives to slow down developments to help manage the community’s growth.

Several similar development proposals have spurred opposition from community members who have said at city council meetings that they fear significant housing, manufacturing, and data center developments are drastically altering the reason so many of them love calling Yorkville home.