Oswego village officials give green light to 801-unit subdivision

Oswego village officials are giving the green light to a 801-unit subdivision planned at the southwest corner of Wolfs Crossing Road and Roth Road.

At the Jan. 23 Oswego Village Board meeting, Village President Ryan Kauffman and the majority of the village trustees voted to approve an annexation agreement with developer D.R. Horton for the proposed Sonoma Trails subdivision. The northwest and south portions of the property currently are in unincorporated Kendall County, while the northeast portion of the property is zoned residential in the village.

The majority of trustees also voted to approve the proposed plans. D.R. Horton Inc. wants to build 301 townhouse units, 119 cottage units and 381 single-family houses on 228 acres at the southwest corner of Wolfs Crossing Road and Roth Road as part of the Sonoma Trails project.

Village Trustee Kit Kuhrt voted against the annexation agreement and the plans.

“I don’t like the density of it,” he said. “Everyone’s angry about high density development.”

Other trustees said they liked the diversity of the project and that projects like it will help bring more commercial development to the village.

“I look at something like this as being the next development that provides the opportunity,” Village Trustee Tom Guist said. “A project like this is what tells those retailers that they should look here. I like what you’re presenting.”

Village Trustee Karin McCarthy-Lange said the project will also help fund much needed road improvements.

“That’s a huge component to me,” she said. “I drive Wolfs Crossing every day and it’s a nightmare, especially when it snows and it rains and it sleets. So if we can get curbing put on there and widen it and do that ahead of schedule with this development, I think it’s a good thing.”

The annexation agreement calls for D.R. Horton to dedicate all necessary right-of-way for the Wolf Road expansion project, said Oswego Development Services Director Rod Zenner. The fees collected from the transportation impact fee and village impact fee will fund the complete Wolf Road improvements along the northern end of the Sonoma Trails development.

He noted, however, that phase of the project is several years off.

“This project makes possible the completion of the Wolf and Roth segment of the Wolfs Crossing project,” Zenner said. “But for this development proceeding, this key intersection adjacent to Oswego East High School may not be completed for another 10 years.”

The preliminary plan proposes two access points along Wolfs Crossing Road and two access points along Roth Road. The western access point along Wolfs Crossing is the proposed extension of 5th Street south of Wolfs Crossing.

“This location is intended to be a traffic circle as part of the village’s Wolf Road improvements,” Zenner said. “The timing of these improvements could be a few years into the future; therefore, the petitioner would have to install an interim improvement for the intersection and 5th Street extended south.”

D.R. Horton’s contribution to the Wolf Road improvements will be capped at the total amount of transportation and village impact fees paid into an escrow account (roughly $4.5 million), plus the value of the turn lane improvements, estimated at $1.5 million, Zenner said.

As part of the terms of the agreement, the village plans to decide by May 1 if the bidding and construction of the improvements will be assigned to D.R. Horton. Once the developer has contributed $2 million in impact fees to the escrow account, the developer will be obligated to begin construction, Zenner said.

“I think some of the benefit of this project is that we have a developer that’s willing to build it alongside the development,” Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said. “And so they’re not going to have 800 homes that come in and there’s no improvements on the road and it’s chaos. They’re actually going to be able to improve the road at the same time they’re adding to the demand on the road.”