Senior housing coming with road extension in south Naperville
One road in south Naperville will be realigned and another will be extended farther west in response to a developer's plans to build houses and duplexes aimed at seniors.
Pulte Home Corp. of Schaumburg gained approval Tuesday for its plans for Ashwood Crossing, a neighborhood of 61 houses and 42 duplexes for people 55 and older to be built west of 248th Avenue between 95th Street on the north and Trumpet Avenue on the south.
Trumpet Avenue currently stops slightly west of 248th. But as the Ashwood Crossing homes go in, Pulte will be responsible for connecting it to Wolf's Crossing Road to the west.
Meanwhile, Wolf's Crossing, which runs on a northeast/southwest diagonal and connects to 248th Avenue slightly south of 95th Street, will be realigned to turn north sooner and connect to 95th Street on the western edge of the new development - before it would get to 248th.
Neighbors in the Tall Grass subdivision to the east of the Ashwood Crossing site said they support the extension of Trumpet Avenue to the west, despite a traffic study from a consultant hired by Pulte and a recommendation from the city's transportation, engineering and development department saying the connection is unnecessary.
One resident called the current backups on Wolf's Crossing and 248th near 95th a "recipe for disaster," even without 103 new housing units, because the intersections are often used by inexperienced drivers heading to Waubonsie Valley High School and by commuters frustrated with delays. Another resident said the need for the extension is a simple question of logistics.
"To us, it is a very basic issue of not forcing residents, kids and buses to drive around a large bypass," Tall Grass resident Jim Shehee said.
While Mayor Steve Chirico and one Tall Grass resident speaking on behalf of several of her neighbors said they opposed the western extension of Trumpet Avenue, they were in the minority. The Ashwood Crossing project, including the extension, gained approval in a series of 8-1 city council votes.
The plan to extend the road means the city will need to pay Pulte one-third of the cost of two new traffic signals to be installed - one at Trumpet Avenue's eastern end at 248th Avenue and another at its future western end at Wolf's Crossing Road. The city expects its total contribution for the signals to be $180,000.
Chirico said he would have preferred another compromise in which Pulte offered to give the city $200,000 for the potential future extension of Trumpet Avenue, which would have been used only if actual traffic conditions after the subdivision is built rendered it necessary.
Chirico said it would have been reasonable to wait and assess safety after new residents move in.
"Why would we want to spend money on a configuration that we're being told is less safe?" he said.
Neighbors didn't raise any concerns about the design of the Ashwood Crossing houses or the land use, which is different from the commercial and retail use originally intended for the site. Instead, Jim Hill, a member of the city's senior task force, applauded the development for older residents.
"The Ashwood Crossing development offers an affordable solution to a large number of households in Naperville - the seniors who want to stay here," Hill said. "We desperately need it."