Naperville planners endorse revised Country Lakes subdivision plan
Naperville planning and zoning commissioners late Wednesday decided to recommend approval of a proposed subdivision at the Country Lakes golf course on the city's northwest side.
Pulte Home Corp. of Schaumburg brought forward the proposal, a revision of a plan that was shot down in October, and it now will be heading to the city council for consideration after the commission recommended it by a 4-1 vote with Chairwoman Patty Gustin abstaining. Gustin was elected to the Naperville City Council on April 7 and said she will vote on the proposal as part of that body.
Planner Kevin Coyne cast the dissenting vote.
This proposal differs from Pulte's previous plan for a subdivision called Atwater because it calls for fewer houses (303 instead of 327), a new street connection to Shore Road on the west, a new traffic signal at Diehl Road and Country Club Boulevard, and a second park on the south side of the development that will connect to an existing park and be dedicated to the Naperville Park District.
While a couple of neighbors said the new proposal addressed their worries, many shared concerns about traffic, stormwater and open space. Several said they thought the golf course was designated to remain as open space under a plan for the entire 440-acre Country Lakes area that was approved in 1978.
Efforts to retain the area as open land, such as stormwater management, have been considered in the past, beginning in 1999 when the DuPage Forest Preserve District began legal proceedings to try to buy the property. But efforts to buy the course through a condemnation suit fell through.
Mary Bittel, a resident of the Enclave at Country Lakes, said it feels like a bait and switch to redevelop the golf course as homes. Nancy Chandler, manager of the Fairways of Naperville apartments in Country Lakes, said Pulte's proposed changes are threatening to take away the open space her complex is used to.
"Keep our open space green," Chandler said.
Kasey Evans, community planner, said the preliminary plan for the 440-acre area required 99 total acres of open space. It now has 157 acres, which includes the golf course. But it doesn't matter what form the open space takes - it just has to be there.
"It's been our interpretation that the previous approval didn't require the golf course to be there in perpetuity," Evans said.
Developers have to meet one other open space requirement, which says 25 percent of a new development must remain open. For the 204-acre proposed subdivision, 51 acres must remain open. Pulte's proposal leaves 110 acres of open space and designates 7.3 acres more as two public parks.
"Atwater provides significant, high-quality open space," Pulte representative Mark Mastrorocco said, including wetlands and a 3.8-mile trail that will connect to the Illinois Prairie Path.
"I'm excited about the walking and biking and running trails, especially providing the entire area safe access to the Prairie Path," said Jennifer Ganser, who lives in the nearby Longwood subdivision and said she supports Pulte's revised plan. "I'm very excited about true open space, not just a pretty view."