Naperville mayor, council opt for special study on I-88 corridor

Naperville City Council members have decided to proceed with a special study into the future of the I-88 business corridor amid concerns about “residential creep” in the area.

The city earmarked $150,000 in this year’s budget for follow-up consultant work on either the corridor or the underdeveloped properties around Naperville’s 5th Avenue Metra station.

“It's kind of embarrassing that we're the best community in America, and we have parking lots from 50 years ago that everybody knows there's a better use,” City Councilman Ian Holzhauer said.

An Urban Land Institute Chicago panel also called the 5th Avenue area a “tremendous opportunity” to “transform acres of uninspiring parking lots into a vibrant new neighborhood.”

In a report last year, the expert panel recommended the city hire a consultant to prepare a development master plan that would outline design guidelines, needed public infrastructure improvements and phasing.

However, a new state law — the “People Over Parking Act” — may “significantly change the format of development near train stations,” a city memo noted. It prohibits local governments from enforcing parking minimums on any development within a half mile of a public transportation hub.

“The entire 5th Avenue study area sits inside the half-mile Metra hub buffer, which means the minimum parking requirements will no longer be enforceable on the development on that site,” Mayor Scott Wehrli said.

The law is set to take effect June 1. A trailer bill was filed in Springfield to exempt municipalities of Naperville’s size. But it’s back in the rules committee, the mayor said.

“So we need to plan as though no relief is coming,” Wehrli said last week.

Meanwhile, a potential new Pulte Homes development calls for more than 260 units — both townhouses and rowhomes — at the eastern entrance to the I-88 corridor. Earlier this year, council members rejected a controversial data center plan for the same vacant site.

Pulte also built the nearby Naper Commons neighborhood. Another builder, M/I Homes, tore down an office building to make way for townhouses.

“Each of these petitions, they arrive with a narrative: it's vacant office, post-pandemic market, balance of supply and demand, but the cumulative effect is a quiet parcel-by-parcel rewrite of what the corridor is for,” Wehrli said.

It’s home to a string of longtime employers, from the Nicor Gas corporate headquarters to Nokia Bell Labs.

“Half of our jobs sit in that corridor,” Wehrli said. “If we keep converting it one office park at a time, we lose the income tax share from those jobs that they generate for the city. We lose the sales tax activity that supports our restaurants and retail, and we add demand in our schools and public services without the commercial base that has historically paid for them.”

Holzhauer voted for the I-88 option but still expressed hope that the train station area “can be a priority in the very near future.”

Councilman Ashfaq Syed, the lone “no” vote, said 5th Avenue has been the subject of “lip service” for the last five years. He also described a need for housing for seniors and young professionals who “cannot afford a house in Naperville.”

“I do think that housing will still be an issue with I-88, too. We're looking at potential businesses … that might be coming our way. They'll need housing,” Councilwoman Supna Jain said.

The Naperville Development Partnership released a report last year that suggested focusing development efforts on certain industries. For instance, ag and food tech and production, quantum and advanced computing, tourism, sports and hospitality.

The organization told the city its I-88 committee recently interviewed advertising firms to develop a brand for the corridor, one of the report’s recommendations.

It also indicated that zoning there is dated, City Manager Doug Krieger told the council.

The city plans to use the budgeted funds to hire a land use consultant. The city, as a result, can “get community input, set zoning and a land use plan for that area, so that way, NDP’s work can align with council and community direction,” Councilwoman Mary Gibson said.