St. Charles subdivision may be too ambitious

A slow housing market hasn't stifled the breadth of a new subdivision in St. Charles that would bring 175 new dwelling units to the city if it can overcome the stumbling blocks caused by its own grand designs.

The subdivision, called Lexington Homes, would bring 53 new single-family homes and 122 townhouses to the 29 acres most recently occupied by the Applied Composites company. The business moved from its North 6th Street address in 2005, leaving a vacant industrial lot ever since. The city council rewrote the zoning for that area earlier this year in hopes of ushering in some residential development to pair with nearby housing.

The problem begins with the site's limitations. About 5 acres is not buildable because of environmental and flood concerns. That leaves about 24 acres to squeeze in all the residential units. However, even that may be cut down.

The St. Charles Park District has decided the subdivision could be in so many new residents that a new park nearly 5-acres big would be necessary to accommodate them. That would cut the buildable area down to under 20 acres, possibly jeopardizing the project's future. The park district, like the school district, has the option of accepting cash instead of taking land for a new park. The payment to the park district would be along the lines of $936,000. The district has rejected that payment, reasoning that the area of the development is already underserved by parks.

Local schools stand to rake in about $752,000 to help accommodate the roughly 82 new school-age children the new housing would attract to the area.

The developers are also asking for a number of zoning concessions. Chief among them are townhouse buildings that fit as many as six townhouses all in one structure. The city currently caps townhouses at five per unit. All the townhouses area also currently segregated from the single-family houses on opposite ends of the subdivision. Much of the affordable housing required in the development would be in the townhouses.

All of that has led to overall concerns about the size, feel and look of the proposed subdivision as the concept plan works it way through the various city committees for an initial review.

Planning and Development Commission Chairman Cliff Carrignan said he thought one resident summed it up best when describing the current plan as 'trying to put a suburban development into an urban landscape." Carrignan said there's no doubt the city wants some moderate residential development on the site. This may be a good plan, but traffic and density issues must be addressed first, he said.