The Crystal Lake City Council have sent plans for a 175 single-family home neighborhood back to developers with a request to make it “more cohesive” with nearby downtown.

Atlanta-based Pulte Homes first proposed a plan in November to build 178 single-family houses on 63 acres along South Main Street, where Amazon had previously planned to build a 180,000-square-foot distribution center. Amazon received approval from the city, but the company walked away in 2022 before it formally purchased the property.

Developers returned to the city’s planning and zoning commission last month with an updated plan, and agreed, after lengthy discussion, to drop four lots adjacent to the central park to further open it the development. The four commissioners present at a recent meeting unanimously approved the rezoning, while the revised plan received a 2-2 approval.

The residential plan, called Lakeland Farm, includes a center passive park area with walking paths throughout the development. Builders plan to have access points off Main Street, Exchange Drive and Commonwealth Drive, according to city documents.

Developers came before the City Council recently with another updated plan that included the new total of 175 homes that creates a larger central park space. But Council members still were unimpressed, this time with the architectural style that comes off as “cookie-cutter.”

“I just don’t feel like it’s something different,” Council member Denise Smith said. “I feel like we would find this in other neighborhoods in other cities, and it’s just repeated over and over again.”

Developers agreed to to come back with yet another updated plan at the Jan. 20 meeting. Developers have the option to ask for an extension if they need more time, Community Development Director Kathryn Cowlin said.

Overall, Council members said they were happy to see single-family, owner-occupied home proposed after an influx of rental apartments have come into the city.

Concerns over the smaller 50-foot-wide lot sizes remained after zoning commissioners also questioned the size, especially with home styles council members found to be unvarying.

“When I look at these, I see big squares, big boxes,” council member Cameron Hubbard said. “Thinking about those lined up next to each other with very little room in between doesn’t feel like Crystal Lake to me.”

Russell Whitaker, an attorney representing Pulte, said it’s becoming more common for builders to have smaller lot sizes to balance out costs.

“It becomes a very difficult push and pull,” he said.

Homebuyers are able to customize with different interior and exterior options, such as front porches and garage expansions. Homes are expected to sell from the high $400,000s to the low $700,000s, Pulte Homes Land Acquisition Manager Fabian Fondriest said.

“We’ve never sold a lot without a homebuyer taking optional upgrades, as well,” Fondriest said.

Even if lot sizes stay the same, the overall architecture remained a sore spot for the council. Council member Natasha Teetsov pointed to the Dole Crossing neighborhood that is cohesive with the older neighboring homes in downtown Crystal Lake.

“This feels like cookie-cutter to me,” Smith said. “I don’t want to look like every other city. I feel like you could plot this in any other city, and no one would know we’re in Crystal Lake.”

One resident, Bruce Markiewicz, spoke during public comment and raised questions on how residents will be able to afford high rent and home prices in the area. He asked for builders to create smaller homes with lower prices that residents can more likely afford.

“We call these residential developments, but for the average working couple in Crystal Lake, we might as well be building castles,” he said. “We are building a ladder where the first rung is 10 feet off the ground.”

If the new Pulte proposal is approved, developers could break ground in early to mid-2026 and complete a model home four to six months after, Fondriest said. In total, the project is expected to take about four years to complete.

Pulte has created communities in more than a dozen suburbs, including Elgin, Mundelein and Trails of Woods Creek in Algonquin.

Pulte also is proposing to build another neighborhood in Algonquin. Developers are expected to propose a project at the southwest corner of Stonegate Road and Huntington Drive to the village’s planning and zoning commission Monday.