Aurora City Council eyes proposed townhouse project with sustainability features near Fox Valley Mall

The Aurora City Council Committee of the Whole Tuesday night examined a new townhouse development proposed to be built near Fox Valley Mall, after 18 months of negotiations between the developer and the city.

The proposed development, set to be named Kingsley Row, would bring 185 townhouses in 38 buildings to long undeveloped land in the triangle created by the intersection of Ogden Avenue and 75th Street on Aurora’s far East Side, according to city officials.

The townhouses would be a mix of two and three stories, with between two and three bedrooms, that would be sold at prices in the mid- to upper $500,000s, according to Zach Kenitzer, manager of land planning and entitlements for developer M/I Homes.

The proposed development is set for a final vote at the next city council meeting on Aug. 25.

City officials said the proposed development would bring needed housing, along with increased property and sales tax revenue, to the area. It also sits in an attractive area within Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and conveniently near highways, officials said.

But negotiations for the proposed development took time due to a few complications and compromises that included new sustainability requirements and increased green space, said David Dibo, who heads the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development.

“It wasn’t necessarily a traditional thing,” said Dibo. “It took a lot more time. It’s interesting how you could see things would not come together but that’s why I think it was exciting that it did come together, that everybody showed the good faith and flexibility to make it come together.”

As part of negotiations, developer M/I Homes agreed to finish construction of Commons Drive, a road that dead-ends on both the north and south sides of the property, which is proposed to be connected through the project.

This road construction includes intersection improvements to Route 34 and 75th Street, all of which the company said it would fully fund, according to Russ Whitaker, an attorney representing M/I Homes.

A mixed-use development previously planned for the site, called Melody Town Center, was never built. Through that project, the city of Aurora was planning to spend millions of dollars to extend Commons Drive and do other infrastructure work, but now M/I Homes is heading up that project on its own, Whitaker said.

The developers plan to extend Commons Drive through the site, connecting to Ogden Avenue on the north and to 75th Street on the south, said Aurora Senior Planner Jill Morgan in May.

The intersection at Ogden would have dedicated left- and right-turn lanes, she said, while the intersection with 75th Street would have dual left-turn lanes.

There would be sidewalks built along the Commons Drive connection, but not along Ogden Avenue or 75th Street, Whitaker said in May. He said the developers would instead pay the city a fee.

The company also committed to performance-based home-efficiency standards proposed by the city, marking the first time M/I Homes has incorporated these standards into a large-scale project. These standards include around $8,000 to $10,000 in additional costs per unit for the developer.

“This is frankly the first time we’ve confronted this issue,” Whitaker said to the committee of the whole Tuesday. “As we began discussions on it, we thought it was a stretch, but we’ve all gotten our arms around it, gotten comfortable with it.”

These requirements align with state efficiency requirements and mean the company can choose which measures it implements in the homes to reach a set efficiency score, said Alison Lindburg, Aurora director of sustainability.

The standard of energy efficiency was set at 60% more efficient than a typical home built in 2006, according to city officials.

M/I Homes must submit a report showing its designs will meet energy-efficiency standards for each building permit application. The company must also submit verification that the homes meet those standards post construction, too.

Lindburg said some measures to meet these standards cost more than others, and meeting these requirements at first would have cost the company an additional $10,000 to $13,000 per unit.

That additional cost was reduced, and the city agreed to cap permit fee costs for the company. This could save the company between $2,000 and $2,500 per unit, city officials said.

City officials also said the Choose Aurora Homebuyer Assistance Program can help cover costs, as it provides loans and grants to certain homebuyers and applies to townhouses and new construction.

For the homeowner, Lindburg said these energy-efficiency measures would reduce utility costs and create overall higher quality homes.

She said the homes would have better insulation, windows and overall be more tightly sealed, which she said means less air drafts, and neighbors won’t hear each other as easily. This means the homes can use smaller mechanical systems for utilities, which can reduce utility costs, she said.

She also said these homes would be more durable and resilient so that if the power and air conditioning goes out, the homes would stay cooler for longer.

Lindburg said adding energy-efficiency measures into this development has been a learning curve for both the city and company and that the overall experience can help the city continue these efforts in the future.

“This partnership with M/I, we’re seeing this entire endeavor as a learning experience for both the city and them,” Lindburg said.

Sustainability has been a priority throughout Laesch’s administration, and he said Tuesday that he expected the demand for energy efficiency in homes to increase.

“The companies that embrace this sooner will survive,” he said. “There’s no way that over the next 10 years as the climate gets hotter, people aren’t going to be demanding a more energy-efficient house.”

Although the project checked several boxes for the city, Laesch said he would have liked the project to include a sound wall, as the site is located in a high traffic area.

The parcel of land being developed was initially annexed by the city in 1998 to serve an auto and commercial purpose but was later proposed to be used for an assisted living facility in 2019, a project that fell through.

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