St. Charles aldermen favor plan for 82 homes at Corporate Reserve

Land originally targeted for office and commercial space on St. Charles' far west side, and then earmarked for apartments, found a third life Monday night as the site of single-family housing.

Pete Tobin, of the Denver-based ownership team of the 46-acre Corporate Reserve site, presented a plan for 81 single-family homes for 22 acres of the development. The plan is a departure from the original mix of office, commercial and retail property originally pitched for the property.

The specific site the 81 homes would sit on was targeted for two five-story office buildings, two single-story office buildings and three parking decks. Those structures would have fit in with the two single-story office buildings already constructed by the ownership team at the site.

The idea of residential housing is not new. The ownership team came to the city back in 2012 with a plan that, at one point, envisioned 407 apartments. Aldermen, under heavy pressure from residential neighbors of the site, unanimously rejected even a scaled-down version of that project that would have built 231 apartments.

An onslaught of neighbors made it clear, at the time, that they would live with office and retail use of the site, but every person who spoke hated the idea of living next to apartments.

On Monday, only one neighbor, Sonja Bowman, showed up to speak about the project. She spoke on behalf of her neighbors and brandished a petition signed by homeowners of the Regency Estates subdivision supporting plans for single-family homes.

"Single-family, detached residential homes are the most prevalent form of residential development in this community and should continue to be so," Bowman told aldermen.

She also spoke in hopes of the new homes bringing more students to local schools. St. Charles Unit District 303 has had ongoing declines in enrollment that may force officials to close some of the most vacant buildings.

With that in mind, the only negative comments aldermen had to say about the idea is that the proposed 20-foot back yards for some of the homes is too small to attract families with kids. Aldermen suggested expanding those yards to at least 30 feet. They also weren't huge fans of the number of homes called for, but, overall, they encouraged Tobin to move forward with a detailed plan.

"It's a nice plan, quite a change from the last time," said Alderman Ed Bessner. "The neighbors are in support, and that's the difference."