Agreement nears for row houses at Arlington Market
The townhouse part of the development at Arlington Market appears closer to acceptance by the Arlington Heights village board, after a new agreement has been worked out between village staff and the homebuilder.
The proposal will be discussed at a board meeting Monday evening.
Neighbors and village officials are eager to get construction underway at Kensington Street and Dryden Place, where most of the old commercial market was demolished in 2007 after a previous housing project was approved but never built.
Pulte Homes plans 66 row houses on the north part of the residential area of the site, and is considering what type of project to propose for the section currently designated for single-family homes.
Pulte is not involved in the commercial area of the property.
The company has agreed to village proposals on many issues that trustees expressed concerns about at a board meeting on April 19, according to a report from the village staff and a letter from Mark Mastrorocco, land acquisition manager for Pulte.
These include streets, guest parking, water mains and the way the homes look from the rear. Mastrorocco could not be reached Friday for comment.
Village Manager Bill Dixon said Pulte had been adamant on several points, despite opposition by staff and the plan commission.
However, Pulte representatives returned to negotiate after hearing from trustees.
Mayor Arlene Mulder said Friday she found it encouraging that Pulte had "responded to many of our concerns," but she needs to see the whole presentation before commenting.
Mulder had said during the meeting that the village could not take responsibility for streets that do not meet minimum width requirements for public streets, noting the board previously refused to do this for 16 other neighborhoods.
Pulte agreed to drop its request that the village take title to the streets, and the village staff recommends the builder be allowed to cut the width to 22 feet from 24. That is adequate for private streets because they will have neither parking or driveways on them and there is room for two-way traffic, the report said.
Matt Dabrowski, development planner, said public streets must be 35 feet wide.
Trustees objected to Pulte's plans that two spaces on owners' driveways at the rear of each row house provide the major guest parking. In the new plan there will be 26 spaces in two spots in the community plus on-street parking along Dryden Place and Hickory Avenue. Signs will be posted so guests know where these lots are.
Ownership of the water mains will be split, with the village keeping an existing main and the developer and eventually the homeowners association owning any new ones.
Pulte will add decorative boards to the rear of the townhouses because trustees complained about the look.
The company is studying what type of homes - single family or multifamily - might be marketable in the area where the previous builder had planned single-family homes.