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📸 Credit: St. Charles Plan Commission agenda
The homebuilder behind the Ashton Ridge development currently being constructed in Batavia is hoping to turn a 27-acre former industrial site in St. Charles into a neighborhood of 93 single-family homes and 12 townhomes.
Pulte Home Company presented the concept plan, called Ninth Street Commons, to the St. Charles Plan Commission on April 21. The site, located between North 5th and North 12th streets south of the railroad tracks, has been vacant for more than 20 years since the Applied Composites Company shut down in 2005.
No vote was taken. The concept plan process aims to give the developer informal feedback before investing in detailed engineering and formal zoning applications.
Here's what to know:
Homes starting above $500K: According to city documents, townhomes would start at $530K and close around $600K with upgrades. Single-family homes range from $570K to $740K across three lot sizes.
Zoning items to consider: Pulte Homes needs a Planned Unit Development to get approval, and the deviations are significant. The requested building coverage of 47% is nearly double the 25-30% allowed in the district, and more than half of the proposed lots are narrower than the 50-foot minimum.
No affordable units planned: The project comes with a requirement for 11 affordable homes under the city's inclusionary housing ordinance. Pulte Homes told the commission it would prefer to pay a $262,274 fee instead, citing a gap of more than $3 million to build affordable units on the site. Staff has encouraged actual affordable units over the fee payment, and some commissioners pushed the developer to explore alternatives.
Several unresolved issues: Commissioners appeared generally supportive of the site/street grid layout, but pushed the developer on issues like mature tree preservation, home and streetscape design, and landscaping variation.
Several neighbors spoke during public comment, raising concerns about losing tree coverage, obstructed views, additional traffic, and capacity issues at Thompson Middle School.
City documents show that the site has an interesting history. The Applied Composites Company stopped operating on the site in 2005 and the industrial buildings were mostly demolished by 2010, leaving the property vacant.
The city rezoned it from industrial to residential in 2013 and approved a 130-unit Lexington Club development with TIF support, but that project was never built. A revised 107-lot plan in 2015 got a favorable reception from the plan commission but was withdrawn by the developer. The city dissolved the TIF district in 2022.
Read more about the proposed project.
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