December 22, 2024
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Developer wants to build 1,900+ homes in St. Charles

By Susan Sarkauskas - Daily Herald Media Group
Looking east from Harley Road, just north of the Union Pacific tracks, toward land that Pulte Home Corp. wants to build on.

Looking east from Harley Road, just north of the Union Pacific tracks, toward land that Pulte Home Corp. wants to build on. (Susan Sarkauskas)

A developer has proposed building more than 1,900 homes in rural Kane County, near unincorporated La Fox, including a Del Webb complex for senior citizens.

Pulte Home Co. LLC has filed a concept plan with St. Charles for a development it calls Charles Farm. It would have a 967-home Del Webb section, 846 single-family homes, and 198 townhouses. It is requesting that the city annex the site.

The 970-acre development would be south of Route 38, east of Brundige Road, west of Harley Road and north of Keslinger Road.

The plan also calls for 15 acres devoted to commercial use.

Much of the land was supposed to be part of a controversial development in the early 2000s called Grand Prairie and then Settlements of La Fox.

Opposition is already mounting. The La Fox Civic Association, which formed in 2000 in response to the Settlements of La Fox, says it has already met with St. Charles officials.

“Annexation to St. Charles is not desirable as it would take control of the development away from Kane County and give it to St. Charles. This would result in very high density and no representation of the existing property owners in the issue,” association president Drew Frasz said in a letter on the group’s website. Frasz is a former Kane County board member who lives on Brundige.

Brundige is a two-lane road. The county has designated it a “rustic road” for its foliage, scenic views and farms. According to the county, the Rustic Road Program is designed to protect rural landscapes and roadways.

Nearby Garfield Farm Museum, which is north of Route 38, also posted a message about it Friday on Facebook: “Voices are needed to encourage a county solution similar to the plan La Fox residents and developers in 2007 agreed upon more appropriate to the character and trend of the community,” it said.

More details about Pulte’s request are available on the “business and development” page on the St. Charles website, stcharlesil.gov.

The city has tentatively scheduled its plan commission to discuss the concept on Sept. 4 and the council’s planning and development committee on Sept. 9.

St. CharlesKane County