Ordinance Granting Approval of a Zoning Map Amendment, Special Use for Planned Unit Development and PUD Preliminary Plan for Seventh Street Commons

This item received a 7-1 recommendation for approval by the Committee of the Whole on 10/19. The approval was conditional upon the developer providing 30 additional trees within the stormwater detention outlots near State Street Creek.

Updates following the 10/19 Committee of the Whole meeting:

Project website: The project website has been updated with information regarding questions received following the Committee meeting.

Landscape Plan: A revised Landscape Plan has been provided. 30 additional trees have been incorporated into the stormwater detention outlots and south of the creek. The revised Landscape Plan is incorporated in the Ordinance. A memo has been provided from the landscape architect detailing the the tree quantities. The total number of trees provided, excluding the building lots, is 301 (comprised of 148 parkway trees and 153 open space trees; not including trees on building lots).

Plan Commission conditions: The PUD ordinance has been updated to include the Plan Commission conditions as ordinance requirements, including the increase in the number of trees recommended by the Committee of the Whole. All plans attached to the ordinance comply with the Commission and Committee conditions.

Traffic Study: Exhibits were revised to show the correct existing traffic control. The final study is posted on the project website.

Environmental Remediation: The developer has provided a letter from environmental consulting firm BBJ Group. The letter explains the proposed environmental cleanup approach for the project including re-enrollment of the site in the Illinois EPA Site Remediation program to obtain a Comprehensive No Further Remediation Letter (NFR) for residential use of the property.

Construction Routes: The developer has discussed potential construction traffic routes with staff. The most direct route is 9th Street- this was the route designated for the Lexington project. Staff has asked the developer to evaluate whether construction access from 12th Street or Mark Street is feasible.

The following background information was provided in the Executive Summary from the 10/19 meeting: 

The subject property is the 27-acre property known as the “Applied Composites” or “Lexington Club” site, located northwest of downtown, north of Dean/State Streets between N 5th and N 12th Streets, and south of the former railroad tracks. 

Comprehensive Plan

After the Applied Composites business closed and vacated the site in 2005, the City approved a Comprehensive Plan amendment to change the site to residential land use, to be an extension of the neighborhood to the south. The 2013 Comprehensive Plan future land use map identifies single-family attached residential (townhomes) west of 9th Street, and single family detached east of 9th Street. The property is currently zoned for residential land uses (RT-3 & RM-2) based on the 2013 Lexington Club plan, which was never constructed. The site has been vacant since 2005.

The proposal for Seventh Street Commons generally complies with the City’s Comprehensive Plan land use recommendations and aligns with the City’s efforts of the past 20 years to see the underutilized site cleaned up, redeveloped for residential use and interconnected with the neighborhood to the south.

Proposal

Pulte Home Company is proposing to develop the subject property with a 105-unit residential subdivision. The proposal is similar to a Concept Plan reviewed by the City earlier this year. 

Applications requesting Zoning Map Amendment, Special Use for Planned Unit Development (PUD) and PUD Preliminary Plan have been submitted by Pulte. Details of the proposal:   

• 93 single-family home lots
• 12 townhome units (3 buildings with 4 units each)
• Street connections to N 6th, 7th, 9th, and Mark Streets
• Public streets through the subdivision with sidewalks and parkway trees on both sides  
• Emergency access to N 12th Street
• Stormwater detention areas along the south, creating an open space corridor along State Street Creek
• Pedestrian path along State Street Creek from N 6th St to N 12th St, including connections to Belgium Town Park
• RT-3 zoning for the single-family portion with deviations related to lot width, building coverage, building height, and side yards.
• RM-2 zoning for the townhome portion, with deviations related to per-unit lot area, building coverage, building height, and rear yard. 

Plan Commission Review – Plan Commission held a public hearing on 9/22/26. Ten members of the public spoke at the public hearing or provided written comment. Comments centered around concerns for change to neighborhood character, impact on property values and taxes, removal of trees, and traffic impacts. Plan Commission recommended approval by a vote of 7-0, subject to the following conditions: 

• Remove invasive species south of State Street Creek
• Add 60 trees in the detention basins and along the pedestrian path
• Provide additional space between the path connecting to the park on Outlot E and the adjacent industrial property
• Create consistent parkway along Lots 18-21 to allow for parkway tree planting
• Provide upper windows in all garage doors
• Provide windows or French doors for all front entry doors
• Separate the townhome driveways
• Allow a 6’ privacy fence along the rear lot lines of Lots 51-58 to screen from adjacent industrial property
• Add benches along the path system 

The applicant has provided revised plans in response to the Plan Commission conditions. All conditions have been addressed on the plans that are attached to the approval Ordinance. 

Affordable Housing Units

The developer evaluated incorporating affordable units into the project. However, the cost gap was too significant to be covered by any City fee waiver or grant, and there is no opportunity to increase the unit count and still have a primarily single-family project. Inclusion of affordable units within the project would require significant subsidy given the other extraordinary development costs of the project. The developer will provide payment of fee-in-lieu of providing affordable units per the amount required by ordinance.

Although this project does not add to the City's affordable housing supply, this project represents a unique opportunity to add a substantial number of new single-family homes to the market within an infill location.

Traffic Study

The developer prepared a traffic study that was reviewed by the City’s engineering consultants, who found that overall traffic in the surrounding neighborhood will not be negatively affected due to multiple connections dispersing traffic over various routes.  When traffic from the new development does affect traffic in the surrounding neighborhood, the impacts will be minimal, such as wait-times being increased by a second or two at an intersection.  Our consultant engineers requested some minor modifications to the study to ensure it is complete and accurate, and the developer recently submitted an updated study that includes those modifications.  This updated study is currently being reviewed, and staff do not anticipate any substantial difference in the projected traffic impacts once the study is finalized. 

Financial Assistance

The City is in the process of establishing a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District on the property. TIF will be utilized to cover the City’s costs to relocate electric distribution infrastructure running through the property, which is in conflict with development of the site. The total amount of TIF expense is anticipated to be less than $3 million.  All other development costs are to be borne by the developer, including demolition, site work and environmental remediation.

Motion: Approve