Batavia gives initial OK to Kirk Road townhouse plan
A nearly 20-year-old idea to build several hundred homes and some stores on the east side of Kirk Road at Wind Energy Pass may finally come to fruition.
Batavia aldermen Tuesday gave preliminary approval to the newest version of the Prairie Commons subdivision, to be built by Lennar Corp, on about 55 acres.
The plan calls for 242 townhouses. The commercial area will front Kirk.
The plan differs slightly from the initial plan, which was first discussed in 1999; it was given preliminary approval when the site was annexed in 2004 and final approval in August 2007. The commercial space is a little smaller. Also, if approved, the Batavia Park District will also receive a small park site, and there will be two private parks.
The land had a different owner in 2004. Nothing else happened until 2013, when a developer proposed building an industrial park on the land. Aurora and Batavia residents who lived either next to the site or west of Kirk protested that proposal, and urged the council to stick to the 2004 plan.
There are apartments and single-family detached homes to the south. Detached houses are also to the west. On the north side is farmland.
In 2017, a developer floated a plan that included townhouses and detached houses.
"I, for one, am happy to see this move forward," Alderman Dave Brown said. He's the only alderman currently on the council who was on it in 1999.
The townhouses are expected to sell for $231,000 to $320,000, depending on the model and the options buyers choose. The developer hopes to have model homes open by October.
The aldermen may take a binding vote as early as Monday's council meeting.