St. Charles aldermen to review plans for two large-scale residential developments

The St. Charles City Council on Monday will review plans for two large-scale residential developments being proposed in St. Charles.

Alderpersons on the City Council’s Planning and Development Committee at 7 p.m. Monday will review Wisconsin-based Continental Properties’ proposal to build 320 apartments on 27.5 acres on the north side of Smith Road at Pheasant Trail known as the Petkus property as part of the Springs at St. Charles project. Previous plans for the Springs at St. Charles project called for 340 apartments.

They will also review plans for for the Charlestowne Lakes development. Developer D.R. Horton wants to build 105 townhouses and 62 duplexes on 28.5 acres located northeast of Charlestowne Mall and south of Foxfield Road, known as the Oliver-Hoffman property.

Following public hearings on Tuesday, plan commissioners unanimously recommended approval of plans for both projects. Regarding the Springs at St. Charles project, plan commissioners recommended approval of the plans subject to resolution of staff comments and a number of other conditions.

The main conditions were to replace the chain-link perimeter fence with a decorative fence and to set it back 30 feet from side and rear property lines, keeping the entry gate open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and providing a publicly accessible path along the north side of the property connecting the park site to the Charlestowne Lakes development to the west.

The developer plans to comply with all the conditions. Commissioners also want the city to consider conducting a traffic safety study of Smith Road based on speeding and safety concerns expressed at the public hearing.

John Trocki, who lives on Pheasant Trail in St. Charles, had voiced his concerns about the chain link fencing that originally was being proposed to surround the development.

“I’m going to be looking directly at this from my unit,” he said. “If you’re going to build this community right across the street from me, I don’t really want to look at it. So the chain link fence doesn’t make sense for me. I hope they can adopt a fence that is similar to the Brooke Toria Estates.”

He also was worried the development would increase traffic problems on Smith Road.

“It’s actually like a drag strip,” Trocki said. “The speed limit is actually 40 mph, but they’re going 60 mph. I’ve witnessed in the past seven years at least 12 cars that have left the pavement. So I don’t know if we have to look at a different speed limit.”

[ St. Charles residents continue to voice concerns about proposed five-story apartment complex ]

Plan Commission Chairman Peter Vargulich didn’t like the plans to make Springs at St. Charles a gated community.

“I think this is an important topic for all of us to consider,” he said. “There are no gated communities in St. Charles, period. There are single-family homes that are gated for whatever the reasons are, but there are no projects, multi-family or any other kind, that are actually gated. I think that this is kind of one of those things where you’re saying you want to be in St. Charles, but in effect, you don’t want to be a part of St. Charles.”

Plan commissioners recommended approval of plans for the Charlestowne Lakes development subject to resolution of staff comments. Those comments including recommending the developer make modifications to the pathway surrounding a detention pond to provide a means of pedestrian connection from Charlestowne Lakes to the park site.

This would allow pedestrians to access the park site from Foxfield Drive through Charlestowne Lakes and the Springs, according to a staff report.

William Thursland, who lives on Lehman Drive in West Chicago, was concerned the development would only add to traffic congestion in the area.

“The traffic congestion right now is a major problem,” he said. “If this project goes through, I can only imagine what it’s going to be like.”

A traffic impact study conducted by Gewalt Hamilton Associates concluded that the development is anticipated to have a minimal effect on the operations of the area roadway network.

“Peak hour trips to and from the development are expected to cause a delay increase of under 3 seconds at surrounding intersections,” the study stated.

William Grieve, a senior transportation engineer at Gewalt Hamilton Associates, said the the development would not increase traffic enough to warrant a four-way stop at the intersection of King Edward Avenue and Foxfield Drive.

“Should the traffic get to the point where the numbers prove it out, you can always install the four-way stop,” he said during the meeting.

Grieve said that King Edward was designed not to be as wide as other streets in order to slow down traffic.

“It was literally established as more of a traffic calming tool, versus a typical 40 foot wide street, which you see closer to Smith Road,” he said. “The little bit of narrower pavement helps slow down traffic. The idea was to put parking on one side of the street, not both sides of the street. But that’s certainly something that I know that D.R. Horton won’t mind rethinking along with city staff to see if perhaps it makes more sense to not have that on street parking. I think it was put there primarily as a way to kind of help out with guest parking, certainly not have residents park there.”