86 homes proposed for Planter's Palette site near West Chicago
Housing developers are seeking to build a subdivision of ranch-style homes on the nearly 35-acre site of the recently shuttered Planter's Palette garden nursery near West Chicago.
Pulte Homes says its project would meet rising demand for housing options that allow retirees and seniors to age in place. Called Trillium Farm, the subdivision would have 86 homes with first-floor master bedrooms and an option for second-floor lofts.
Planter's Palette closed after nearly 40 years of business on a sprawling property south of Roosevelt and Garys Mills roads and east of Purnell Road. Pulte has entered into a contract to buy a portion of the unincorporated site, according to an application for zoning approvals from DuPage County.
Naperville law firm Rosanova & Whitaker is representing the Schaumburg-based homebuilder in its request for zoning relief from the county.
“These communities appeal to seniors because they are low-maintenance, have single story or first-floor master floor plans, smaller lots, few children, quiet neighborhood, minimal traffic and residents with similar lifestyles,” attorneys wrote in the petition to the county.
To appeal to what Pulte calls “active adult lifestyle residents,” the builder is proposing lot sizes as small as 6,900 square feet. The average would be 9,222 square feet. Those are smaller than the minimum lot size allowed in the corresponding zoning district, one of the requested exceptions from the county's subdivision regulations.
A homeowners association also would handle all landscaping, snow removal and other outdoor maintenance on the lots and common areas.
Trillium Farm would have two proposed entrances on Purnell Road, which runs along Blackwell Forest Preserve and holds traffic headed to Garys Mills and Route 59.
But Pulte's attorneys say there would “only be a minimal increase in traffic from the subdivision on Purnell Road.”
There also are no new traffic lights included in the proposal, county officials say.
If approved, the homes in the subdivision would have unincorporated DuPage addresses, county officials say.
The city of West Chicago will offer water and sewer utilities to the project, Economic Development Coordinator Pete Kelly said in an email.
The county's zoning board of appeals will hold a public hearing on the project at 6 p.m. Nov. 14, in Room 3-500 B of the county office building, 421 N. County Farm Road in Wheaton. Developers will present their case, followed by public comment.
After the zoning board of appeals makes its recommendation, the proposal will be presented at the county development committee and then the county board.