Naperville annexing site for 22 new townhouses
Naperville is getting 3 acres larger to welcome a 22-unit townhouse development despite neighbor concerns with density, building height, traffic and stormwater.
The city council approved annexation of the site at the southwest corner of Charles Street and Bauer Road, where Oak Creek Capital Partners LLC and M/I Homes plan to build a development called Bauer Place.
Just north of Ogden Avenue, neighbors and the developer agreed the site is a transitional location between businesses along the busy commercial corridor and houses to the north and west. But neighbors and the developer's attorney, Len Monson, agreed on little else.
They squabbled about the height of the six proposed townhouse buildings, which will be two stories tall with a partially underground third story that Monson called an "English basement." Their heights would range from 35 to 39 feet tall in a zoning area where 43 feet is allowed.
"We still have very tall buildings, whether you call them 2.5-story or 3-story," neighbor Margaret Mills said.
Neighbors who have organized against the project for nearly a year objected to the design of the townhouses, which will be built facing one another and the interior of the property, not either of the streets bordering the site.
"Why is this noncreative barracks style acceptable when there's nothing like it in the area?" neighbor Kevin Hynes said.
Neighbor Dale Dionesotes encouraged the council to reject the plan and ask the developer to redraw it with two-story buildings facing the streets. He compared it to the situation faced by previous councils who called for amendments to a major commercial development downtown before approving the Water Street District with a hotel, banquet center, shops, restaurants, Riverwalk improvements and parking garage.
"Getting the right fit does not have a shot clock," neighbor Don Hutton said.
Not everyone on the council was impressed with the Bauer Place plan, which had been scaled back from an original version proposing 30 townhouses in eight buildings. But seven of the eight council members present voted to approve the townhouses, agreeing with Monson that their height will be relatively similar to that of the large single-family houses in the area.
"This is much more consistent with the existing neighboring single-family elevations," Monson said.
Council member Rebecca Boyd-Obarski voted against the annexation and townhouse plan. Council member Patty Gustin was absent.
Boyd-Obarski said she plans to push for a clearer plan for transitional sites such as the property at Charles and Bauer because she anticipates the city will be presented with similar developments in the future.
The two- or three-bedroom Bauer Place townhouses will target empty-nesters and will sell for roughly $400,000. The city is requiring a 30 percent limit on the amount of units that can be rented at any given time.